Bengal District Gazetteer : Gaya

160 GAYA.
m *
in another village it is the invariable practice to pay rent by the
dénabandi system. The method is settled at each crop by mutual:
agreement, though naturally custom has a considerable part in
determining which method shall be adopted. When the two
parties quarrel, the tenants hold out for the daéai system, because.
it gives them opportunities for misappropriating the grain in-the
field before it is divided; and, on the other hand, the landlord
strives for the dindbandi system, both because he is better pro-.
es; tected against peculation, and because he can try to secure an
excessive appraisement. are
re Whether the danatandi or the datas system prevails, a
f number of customary allowances have to be made out of the
grain before the landlord’s and tenant’s share is determined, the
only difference being that in the case of appraisement the
amounts given in the form of allowances are calculated instead of
being actually weighed. These allowances vary greatly, as
almost every village has its own custom or Jagan, and in some
villages more, and in some less, is given or alluwed to the
landlords, tenants and labourers. When the crops are ent and
the sheaves aro being harvested each day, the first deduction
Ki made is that.of masdiri or the labourers’ share, those belonging
— tothe village being paid at a higher rate than outside labourers,
i Tn some villages the rate allowed is 1 sheaf in 21 for outside
= labour, and 1 in 16 for the regular village servants ; in other
villages the rate is as high asl out of every 11 or 12 sheaves

F for village servants. In addition to this, they are allowed a
te daily diet allowance (valled Jokra ehhakauti) of grain in the ear,
— which is made over tothe tenant to disburse as he likes. This

ie’ allowance also varics greatly in quantity. In some cases, it
Be amounts to 5 scers per day for an outsider and 16 seers per day
fora village servavt ; but elsewhere each cooly gets 2 seers per
day, or sometimes 10 seers for each 21 sheaves cut, and in other
places about 6 seers per day. In some villages, again, outside
coolies get only half the allowance. After the labourers’ share
has boon deducted, the blacksmith, carpenter, village washerman,

» eto., get their shares from each tenant. The barai (carpenter)
* nd Joddr (blacksmith) generally get 1 dojhd or sheaf; and the
chamar (cobbler), hajjdm (barber), d4obi (washerman), b4a¢ (village
bard) each +half a dojkd while even the beggars are giv. u an’

amas, lel ie a he mia of 4 oF

*

“eae this the remaining sheaves are throshed and the grain
is collected into one heap and weighed; and then tho village
officials are allowed their shares (ras#m) out of the undivided grain}
the petwiri (accountant) receiving 4chittacks (3 0z.), in each
maund, the gorait (watchman) and dara4il (peon) 2 chittacks each,
and the damsdr (potter) and éahats (office servant) 1 chivtack each,
In some villages, however, the patwari and gumashéa or landlord's
agent get S chittacks between them, and the dara4il, goratt, tahala,
dumbar and Aatwa (weighman) each get 2 chittacks ; sometimes
too the dadhwir or field-watchor, gets 2 chittacks, and the seats
man has a perquisite of 4 chiltacks called parédl.

The customary concessions are then made to the —
sometimes, under the name of charseri or doseri, Asoora in one
maund are allowed to high castes.and 2 seers to low castes, or
2.seers only are given to the higher and | seer to the lower castes;
sometimes, under the name of dishsnaprit, a portion of the heap,
estimated at about 2 seers to each maund, is portioned off for the
tenant. Then the remaining grain is divided between the tenant
and landlord according to the proportion customary in the villuge;
and finally o. further concessior, called. neg, is made to the
landlord, 1} seer per maund for cach high-caste and 24 secrs for
each low-caste tenant being. dedueted from: the cultivator’s heap
and transferred to that belonging tthe proprivtor. These rates’
differ in each village ; and there are often three or four classes of.
tenants in receipt of allowances, the jeth raiyats or headmen.
being the most favoured and the Jower castes the least. In some.
villages Goalis, who supply milk and g/i, are charged a lower
rate, in. others a toll, called chungi, is levied at the rate of 24 seers
for every 21 sheaves cut by outside coolies ; and a charge called.
pasera is also sometimes made, 1.¢., in the case of each tenant
whose grain exceeds 5 or, in some cases, 10 maunds, 56. seers are
made over to the proprictor’s heap. Fivally, the gorait gets a —

oe eg maund, and the village * —

Tm

GAYA,

tequired in the village, and acts as scribe generally to the commu-
nity, The result is that the tenants, being illiterate men, sreasa
rule dependent upon him for their titles to any land they possess,
The guméash ta has the responsibility of the irrigation of the crops,
he has to settle disputes between the different tenants as to water,
etc., and he also heads them when they have to protect their
rights by alevee en masse as well as iu the litigation which
inevitably ensues. The darahils and goreits are expected by the
tenants to watch the crops and prevent grazing, and the artisans
such as the carpenter, blacksmith, etc., are similarly indispensable
members of the village community, who by old custom and tradi-
tion are bound to serve the villagers in the needs of every-day life.

Side by side with the 4doli system is that known as nagdi,

—— t.¢., the payment of rents in cash. These systems are not

Nagai

looalized or confined (o particular tracts, but co-exist all over the
district, and almost every cultivator holds some land under both
systems. Certain crops however are nearly always cultivated
under the JAdolt system, such as riee ; and cash rents are inva-
riably paid for other crops, such as poppy, sugarcane, and
garden produce. Mopey rents are, in fact, paid for all land
growing crops which require special care and expense; and this
is generally the case with homestead land, as it is peculiarly
adapted for the growth of special crops, and the cultivator can
cultivate it entirely by his own means.

In the case of cash rents there are two speoial kinds of tenures,
called shikmi and chakatd. A shikmi holding is one held on »
cash rent in perpetuity, and the term is said to be derived from
the fact that a former Maharaja of Tekari introcuced the system
and fixed his tenants’ rents for ever in sicca rupees. Another
theory is that the word is derived from ahikam, the Persian for
belly, a term applied to the rich land held under this tenure,
because it is generally the best in the village, usually yields two
crops, and is the main source from which the cultivator obtains
his livelihood. Céakath lands are those temporarily settled at cash
“gents for period of years. The term is specially applied to

settlements of waste or uncultivated lands, snede fore

temporary :
— 6 yen ait te object of reclaiming them or —
en

difficulties of irrigation or natural unfertility. The landlord
reserves to himself the right of demanding a prodvce-rent on ~ :
expiry of the settlement, but in practice this right is seldom enforced f
Another tenure peculiar to Gaya is that called paran, which
appears to occupy an intermediate position between the Maoli and
nagdi systems. The paran or paran pheré tenure is one under
whieh paddy land, beld on the d4a»/i system, and suited to the
growth of sugarcane or poppy, is settled at a specially high rate
of rent for growing citber of these crops. When the sugarcane or
poppy is harvested, the land reverts to the bkdoli system and is
sown with paddy. Thus the land held under this tenure grows
two crops, sugarcane and poppy, during the first two years, the
former being on the ground for 14, and the latter for
8 months, and in the third year riceis grown. Each block ig
accordingly sown in turn with sugarcane, poppy and rice, the
rent being paid in cash while the land is under the first two crops,
and in kind when it is under rice. Tho ratson d étre of this
arrangement is simply that in Gaya cosh rents ave invariably
paid for land growing sugarcane and poppy, while produce-renta
are nearly always paid for land growing rice. Manrry
There can be little doubt that, under present conditions, the 3 —
bhaoli system is absolutely indispensable for the greater part of ; aM
the cultivation. On it depends the systxn of indigenous irrie Ms
gation which is essential to the prosperity of the country and
to its protection against famine ; and it is not too much to gay
that, if it were abolished, potas und dhars would not be Gone
structed and the existing works would fall into disrepair. ‘It
' is true that the landowner now-a-Jays does not dohis duty in
‘ keeping the pains c'ear of silt and in-maintaining the ahare
“properly ; but he would do it still less if it were not that he
_ shares in the produce of the land. On the other hand, the system
~ bas grave defects, not the least of which is that it engenders
-* glovenly cultivation. The incentives to industry are —
he —— for the tenant, receiving only half
has only half the usual motives for exertion and wil

new feature, as 100 years ago it was so noticeable that Buchanan
Hamilton remarked :— “ This system of levying the rent bya
‘division of crops has produceda slovenly and careless cultivation.
The tenant is not pushed for his rent ; and his great object, in
place of cultivating well, is to diminish the expense of cultiva-
tion. . From this a very great lors arises to the landlord and still
more to tlie public. Almost every tenant, however, has some land
for which he paysa money rent and on this is bestowed all bis
eare, by rearing on it richcrops, by manuring, and by frequently
repeated ploughingand hoeing. The rent is much higher than
the share whicb the landlord receives on the division of crops
and the farmers who have the largest proportion of this kind of
land ure in the easiest circumstanees.’’ The superior eultivatien
of cash-paying lands is as apparent at the present day ; all pro-
duce above what sulflices to pay tho rentis pure profit, and the
yesult is that they receive the cultivator’s best care and labour
and all his available manure.
It is obvious, moreover, that the complicated method of

appraisement and division must result in a vast amount of peculas ··

tion and mutual friction. Endless disputes are the rale, and the
apportionment of the crop furnishes many opportunities for frand
and oppression. In a small estate, where the petty zamindar can
look after his own fields and see the crops divided or check the
appraisement personally, the system is not so open to objection.
The small proprictor is often a resident of the village and there-
fore amenable to public opinion ; he is so directly dependent on his
tenants that he has to keep on good terme with them ; and his
income is so vitally affected by the irrigation works that in bis own

interests he is bound t» keep them up. The defects of the eystem are

more apparentin large estates. Ifthe method of ba/ai is followed,
the opportunities for fraud are very great, and if the danabandi,

both landlords and tenants are at the mercy of the underlings

whom the former has to maintain. The estimates they make can-

not very well be checked ; if the guméshtas side with the ryots, it
is easy for them to cheat the proprietor ; if they are not on good
terms with the ryote, they can grossly over-estimate, and they cam, at's

erope are ruined by tha delay. The result is that the subordinates
the : |

SYSTEMS OF RENT PAYMENT.

landlord is often forced to introduce the midd'eman, as a prefer+
able alternative to entertaining a great staff of servants, who are
an expense to himself and a fruitful source of oppression to the
tenants. Here again the estate suffers. The farmer has no
permanent interest in the property, he endeavours to squeeze out
of it as much as be can during the period of his lease, and the
teuants are oppressed. The injury done to the interests of the
proprietors themselves is scarcely less ; and the state of the
9 annas share of the Tekiri Raj, when the Court of Wards
assumed charge of it in 1886, shows how great this injary is

and how strong is the tendency to lease out villages in this way.

No less than 635 villages were leased out temporarily, and only
65 were under direct management ; the irrigation works on which
the crops almost entirely depended had been much neglected and
were ineffective ; and the productive power of the lands held by
the ¢hikddars or lessees had groatly deteriorated. Similar results
were witnessed at the beginning of last oentury by Buchanan
Hamilton, who wrote of this same splendid property: —“ Perhaps
15 annas of the estates are let by an actual division of the crop.
As it would be impossible for the Reja to superintend sucha
collection, without suffering the most enormous losses, he has
farmed out the greater part of his rents, and this has given rise
to considerab!e complaints of oppression ; nor is the cultivation
on his estates so good as might have been expected from the
money be has expended in constructing reservoirs, canals and
roads. Had his estate been Jet for a money rent, it might, with:
his prudence, have been managed by his stewards entirely without)
loss, and the tenants would have had no cause for complaint,
while the rents would have been’a stimulus to industry.”’

In any case, the system gives tremendous power to the
landlords over their ryots. The control of the irrigation works
places the peasantry in more or less complete subjection to the
landlord, who cap, and very often does, exact most unfair;
terms from them. The result is that even where the landlords

maintain irrigation works, they do not always do so at their own
cost ; ; that they often make their tenante labour without charge, -

— or else appropriate a larger sbare of the produce than they should

bi

i
1
|

166 GAYA, ee ee

steady tendency to convert produce-rents to cash rents—a change
noted by Buchanan Hamilton 100 years ago, which has been
accelerated by the policy of the Court of Wards in the Tekari Raj
daring the last 20 years. In some cases the produce-rents were
commuted in whole villages, and in others small plots were settled
on cash rents (called chakath); altogether the rents of 29,314
bighas were so converted during the term of the Courts’ manage-
ment. It was decided, however, that such commutation was not
to be carried out except where the irrigation system was complete,
asin the area irrigated from the canals, or where no further
improvements were possible in that dependent on indigenous
irrigation. The process is slow, but it is developing as the
tenantry and the more enlightened landlords begin to see the
disadvantages of such a complicated method of rent recovery.
‘Lhe Son canal system, which affords the ryot a certain supply of
water independent of the zamindars, has done much in this direc-
tion; and the tendency is for the ryot to pay produce-rents only
for those lands in which cultivation depends entirely on large
works of irrigation constructed and kept up by their landlords.
Here the system is justified by necessity, and is appropriate, if
fairly worked ; but where cultivation depends on large irrigation
works whieh the landlords to not maintain, it is an anomaly
which fortunately is gradually disappearing.

In concluding this sketch of the b4ao/1 system, the following
remarks of a former Collector of Gaya may be quoted :—“Con-
siderable misapprehension appears to exist in regard to the system
of payment of produce-rents prevalent in this district, known as
the b4doli system, which is chiefly due, as far as I can judge from
what I have seen written on the subject, to the fact that the actual
working of the system in practice on the sput has not been
sufficiently known or distinguished from the theoretical working
of the system in its general and broad lines. Although the
peculiar system has, no doubt, lasted in this district by reason of
the necestity which underlies it, viz., the necessity of the landlord
(or the capitalist) keeping up the comparatively expensive works of
irrigation, without which cultivation could not be

courried.on throughout a great part of the district, it is not now, ues

—

2

¢

2 custom ; and ee eee r

Government, in respect ‘of their own estates held sider dimi |
management, have adopted this custom, and have thas done muth =

to keep it alive. The fact, too, that the custom is observed in
these estates, the administration of which comes so prominently
before the officers of Government has done much to make it
conspicuous. But,as a result of this, much that has been
written in regard to the b44oli system in this district has emanated
from a perhaps too exclusive experience of those classes of estates.

“ The system is advantageous to a powerful and unscrupulous
landlord, as against a poor and weak tenaniry,and keeps up, or
fosters the existence of, so many middlemen and encourages so
much dispute, peculation and dishonesty on all siles as to stamp it
unmistakably as bad. I have never heard an educated or a
sensible native of high or low class praise it in se. It is the fact
that it favours the rich and powerful that has caused if to main-
tain its position so long ; and I have no doubt that the poverty
and serf-like status of many of the tenantry in this district, that
have been rioticed from time to time, are the result in *
measure of this system.”

ee eke

CHAPTER XII. 7

RENTS, WAGES AND PRICES.

Rays, Ture are no statistics available showing the rates of rent prev-

alent throughout the whole district, butthe rates as certained
during the years 1893—98 in the course of the survey and settle-
ment of the Tekari Wards estate, the Government estates and the
Belkhara Mahal may be regarded as applicable to the district as
a whole. The areacadastrally surveyed was 582 square miles
containing over 660,000 plots and 65,800 tenancies, and the
rents and status of 69,334 tenants were attested. ‘lhis area is
equal in extent to about one-eighth of the total area of the district,
and as the villages concerned are scat‘ered over all patts of Gaya,
the statistics obtained are fairly representative of the whole of
the distriit. At the same time, it should be remembered that
the statistics showing the incidence of rent per acre of cash-paying

* Jand are rendered of less value by the fact that so much of the

settled area is held on produce rents, and that cash rents are
paid only for the most fertile lands, to which the ryot devotes
special attention.

It was ascertained that the rate paid by ryots at fixed rates
in the Tekiri estate was as high as Rs. 4-9 while in the other two
estates it varied between Re. 1-8 and Re. 1-12 per acre. The
rate payable by occupancy ryots was found to be Rs. 3-8 per
acre in the Government estates, Rs, 4-6 in the Tekari estate, and
Res. 5-14 in the Belkhara Mahal, this variation being a measare of .
the relative productiveness of the three estates. Non-occupancy
xyots pay the highest rents in the Belkhara Mahal, viz., Rs. 5-15

“per acre, while the rate is only Re. 1-10 to Rs. 2-8 in the other
lo le only the worst land or land of inferior quality —

SS REE eT RR ae
— — — pada PAE a

RENTS, WAGES AND PRICES.

estate, Rs. 8-10-11 in the Government estates and Rs, 6-1-10 in

the Belkhara Mahal. In the Tekari estate the area held on cash

rents is smal! (22 per cent.), and no inference can be drawn from

the low rate of rent; but in the other two estates the rates are

very little above the rates paid by ovcupancy ryote—a fact which

supports the conclusion that there is very little competition for
available land in this district.

‘Taking the parganas according to their fertility, it was found
that in the most fertile tract the average rate of rent paid by
settled ryots possessing occupancy rights, who form a large pro-
portion of the tenantry, was Rs, 5-12 per acre; in the second
ak tracts mentioned in Chapter VIII it was Res, 4-7; in

fhird tract it was Rs. 3-2-3 ; and in the fourth tract of fertility ‘
it was Rs. 2-7-1. In the case of non-occupancy ryots, the rent
rates bore little relation to the general fertility of the pargana, as
the area of the land held by these ryots is so small that the rate
depends entirely on the quality of a few isolated plots.

The rents paid vary very largely according to the class of
soil cultivated and the crops grown, and the following rates of
rent per acre may |e regarded as fairly gencral ; paddy lands, if
fit for only a single crop, Re. 1-8 to Rs. 8, and those yielding
a double crop, Re, 3 to Rs 10; lands on which wheat, barley,
gram, pulses and oil-seeds are grown, Rs. 2 to Rs. 8; sugarcane
and poppy lands, Rs. 3 to Rs. 16; lands growing dhados crops,
such as maize, marud or jowar, Re. 18 to Re. 5 ; and lands growing
potatoes, Rs. 4 to Re. 16.

Dr. Buchanan Hamilton estimated the average rate of rent
at the beginning of last century at from Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per
acre, and there can be no doubt that the increase during the last
100 years has been very large. On the other hand, the price of
grain bas risen even more during the last 30 years, but cash rents
have not risen to a corresponding extent ; and the rise in the value
of the produce has outstripped whatever enhancement may have
been made in the cash rents. ea

: Statistics of the wages paid for certain selected classes of Waans,
labour and the rates current during the decade }893—1902 willbe =
found in the Statistical Appendix. It is interesting to comparo
these figures with those of 100 years ago given by Dr. Buchanan |
— At that time the usual daily allowance for a labourer ne

*

engaged in ploughing was 3 seers of grain, or in some places
from 1} to 2 pice, with half a seer of the unboiled porridge called
sattu. This wage, representing in English money atout one
penny, was earned by nine hours’ work. The annual wages earned
by a poor family of three persons were Rs. 26-8; and though
one rupee represented 156 lbs. of maize, or other coarse but
wholesome grain, the whole living expenses of the family, includ-
ing clothes, had to be met from this sum. An estimate of the
earnings of a family from Nawada, where wages were still lower,
gave as the annual gain, represented in money, Rs. 22-1-6.
' ‘The rise in the rate of wages has apparently not kept pace
with the general rise in the price of food-grains, especially f
lower classes of labour, and the village craftsman carns about the
same year after year. In the towns, however, where there is a
special demand for it, skilled labour undoubtedly commands a
higher price than formerly, and the carpenter or smith, who
earned only 44 annas aday, now gets a wage of 8 annas per
diem. Among masons, carpenters and blacksmiths the wage
shows an upward tendency ; the silversmith charges a higher
rate for his workmanship ; the shoe-maker and the tailor have
raised their tariff; and there is a similar tendency among
domestic servants. The rise is small and gradual, but is
observable all the same ; and it appears to be due to the opening
‘of new lines of railway and the resultant communication with
large centres of industry.
Outside urban areas the wages of labour maintain much the
‘game level from year to year ; and in the case of unskilled labour
' their measure is usually the minimum amount required to afford
‘means of subsistence. Fortunately, however, wages in the
villages are usually paid wholly or partly in kind ; even the
‘village artisan rcoeives grain for the services he renders; and
the field-labourer generally gets the whole of his wage in one or
other of thoinferior grains. The rates of the wages thus paid
in kind vary in different localities, but the following are said to
tbe the general rates. At harvest time the village labourers
“ get 1 out of every 16 sheaves out and outside labourers 1 out of
“every 21 sheaves, in addition to a diet allowance known as /okra
and chhakanti, while ploughmen receive 1 out of every 16
— , aad weges paid —

RENTS, ws asp PRICES, _

\ each get 5 local seers of the rabi crop and 1 Joj4a or sheaf of
paddy per 4dr (a holding measuring about 10 dighas), at the =
time of harvesting ; the cobbler (chdmar ) receives one boj4d per
har; the barber 5 seers of .raéé and 5 seers of paddy per head
shaved ; and the washerman (dAodi) half a dojAa per head ina
tenant’s family. The Mali and Tamoli (betel-leaf seller) each
get one bojhd per tenant ; the Goala, or cowherd, one local
maund of rice and an equal quantity of rabi plus one bojha
per Aer ; the Badhwiar, or crop-watcher, a quarter seer por local
maund of grain produced ; and the Bhat, or village bard, half a
boj4d per tenant. This system is particularly suited to an agri-
cultural country like Gay, as it has the advantage of being a
unaffected by any rise in the price of food-grains. Whatever
the fluctuations in the price of these in the market, the labourer’s
Wage remains the same.

A statement of the prices current in each subdivision during P#1Cs%
the years 1593—1902 is given in the Statistical Appendi:
They show an extraordinary advance on those obtaining a little
more than a century* before, when even the finest kind of rice
sold at 31 to 44 seers and paddy at 95 to 129 seers per rupee,
while the price of wheat ranged from 55 to 64 seers and of gram
from 72 to 104 seers per rupee. The prices.of grain have risen
enormously during the last hundred years ; but on the other hand
there bas been a very great growth in the income of all classes, and
during the last generation the development of communications,
has had the effect of levelling prices over larger and larger areas,
Ten years ago there was only one line of railway running
through the north of the district, but within the last few years
three more lines have been added, which tap the district in all
directions, and the network of main roads and feeder roads
admirably supplement the work of the railway. There is eonse-

* ‘quently less variation in prices between various parts of the
district than formerly, whin the railway only traversed the north —

ot the district and the j rices of foodgrains varied directly with —
- the distance of the markets from it. Besides this, the vam

we ~ ©Pon a let of Who price, current — — *
Geet are — a

Pe ti iss ‘teachin

GAYA.

kind, and immemorial custom has fixed the amount thereof, so
that the high prices of grain affect a large section of the
community less than would otherwise be the case. To this it
should be added that the rural population keep large stores of grain,
and are, therefore, to a certain extent protected from the —
xe consequent on scarcity and the rising price of food.

ij ‘Marmux ' The subject of the material condition of the people of

fae on Gaya has attracted a considerable amount of attention owing to

— the somewhat startling picture of their poverty presented by Dr.

— Grierson in his Notes on the District of Gaya. This account

formed the rubject of a question in Parliament, and advantage was

taken of the survey and settlement operations then in progréss in

the distri¢t to institute a special enquiry into the economic

condition of the poorer classes. A detailed criticism of the

conclusions arrived at by Dr. Grierson will be found in

Mr. Stevenson-Moore’s Report on the Material Condition of

Small Agriculturists and Labourers in Gaya, and ‘it will be

‘sufficient here to summarize the results of his exhaustive ”

investigations.

According to Dr. Grierson, 70 per cent. of the agricultural

holdings, unaided by supplemental sources of income, ‘do not

: support their cultivators, t.¢., the net profit does not give a family

of six persons sufficient clothing and two full meals a day ; while

all persons of the labouring classes and 10 per cent. of the culti-

vating and artizan classes may be considered as insufficiently

clothed or insufficiently fed, or both. “ It is not suggested,’ he

added, “that this large number of human beings is as arule in

~. actual'want of food, or has never more than one meal a day. In

the majority of cases two meals a day form the rule, but they

have often to curtail the number of their meals for a few days

at a time to enable them to tide over difficulties,” The resu'ts

obtained by Mr. Stevenson-M oore disclose a very different state of
affairs. He found that the conditions depicted by Dr. Grierson, ~

namely, that 70 per cent. of the holdings do not support the

cultivators, might perhaps apply to the most unfertile tract in

Gaya, or to 8 per cent. of the cultivated area of the district ; but:

‘that approximately only 25 percent. of the holdings in the entire

district were insuficieot to support their cultivators in comfort —

! ——— — —

OK:

ae

— prices.

the celtivating labourers were found to be well off, the average.
income per head falling under Rs. 15 only in the most infertile
tract, where it wes I's. 14-6. Among landless labourers the average. -
ineome per head ranged from Rs. 14 to Rs, 18°2, assuming that.
they worked full time throughout the year. If steady, industrious
and folly employed, they can earn nearly Rs. 15 a head, which.

would amply cover the cost of living in comfort. This however J
is a maximum, for thorgh they are ‘supposed to get work for 4
nine months in the year, it is doubtful whether they get it for |

so long a period. On the other hand, a large portion of theme
are 4amiyds or bond servants, and as such are supported by their: - —
martere even in times of adversity. a
The general conclusion at which Mr. Stevenson-Moore arrives: .
is as follows :—“ Dr. Grierson’s finding that the labouring classes.
are insufficiently nourished ean be aceepted so far as it concerns
landless Jabourers. That 10 per cent. of the artizans are similarly,
sittinted is little better than conjecture, but 1 am not prepared to» .
deny it. There is no reason whatever to believe that 10 per cent..
of pure cultivators suffer from want, but it is possible 10 per
cent, of cultivating labourers are in that condition, From these:
promises the result is obtained that 20°56 per cent. of the entiro. ,
population, or about 425,000 people, as against Dr. Grierson’s...
estimate of 45 per cent. of the population amounting to one
millicn peoy le, are so circumstanced that periods occur during the -
year when they are not able to take two full mealeaday.”: These
statisties were based on enquiries conducted by a trained staff, «
which bad means of attaining aceuracy which Dr. Grierson had’ »
not; and they may be aceepted as more reliable than those
obtained by him. The result, however, is to show how large a Ra
proportion of tLe population do not possess an income of Rs, 15 oe
@ year, which, as Dr. Grierson subsequently explained, may be
regarded as “the sum required to give a well-to-do native of the’
lower classes, with a fairly high standard of comfort, plenty to
eat and drink and a sufficient supply of clothing and the usual -
luxuries. +.
The indebtedness of the cultivating elssscs is however enall; jxidebted
and Mr. Stevenson-Moore found that the incidence of debts per Ms
head varied from Ks. 6°6 in the case of families holding under,
¥ — in the case —

17a ‘Gata. 7:

The extent of the cultivator’s indebtedness in Gaya is, in fact, ih

direct proportion to his prosperity ; the bigger the eultivator, the

greater his credit, and the higher his expenditure on marriages

and other ceremonies. The rvot generally keeps a certam amount

of grain in store, but be is often improvidcnt, and the general

custom of the country makes heavy expenditare on social cere~

monics obligatory. For these reasons, agriculture, hike other

industries, is supported on credit, and the mahajan is as essential

to the vilge os the ploughman, Some of the ryot’s debt is owed

to the shop-keeper who sells grain, orto the madajzan ov landlord

for advanees to purchase food while the hirvest is ripening, and

sueh accounts are usually closed when the harvest is rcaped ; some

— ‘is contracted, more partieularly if the harvest promises to be a

bumper one, for the purpore of marriages; and some debts are

busincss trancaelions elosely eonnected with agrieulture, e.g., for

the purebare of seed, ploughs or cattle, or for extending cultiva-

tion or making agricultural improvements. As Dr. Griersom

rays :—“ So far as Gaya is concerned, the much-abused mahdjan

ig much more of a banker than money-lendez, and advances

grain during the het weather and rains to be repaid at harvest time.

He is the Eastern substitute for oceidental thrift. He saves the

ryot the trouble of saving for himself, and makes him-pay highly

for it ;—that is all. Debts are, of course, eontracted fox marriages

and the like, but these are rarely large in amount, and the debtors

are generally able to pay cf the primcipal besides paying the

heavy rate of intcrest.”’

™ ~ Notonly have the cultivators better credit than the labouring

classes, but being in the habit of keeping grain for home consump-

tion, they are in a better position than the non-agricultural clacs

' qwhen grain is scaree and prices are high. The greater portion of

the land is held on the dédo/i system, and the tenant has not

therefore suffered from enhaneement of rents, as the proportion of

produce taken by the landlord does not alter; while the priee

obtained for the surplus of his own share whieh is available forsale

has considerably increased. Many parts of the district are more-

over capable of greater agricultural development, and the ineidence-
of population (437 per square mile) is the lowest im the Patna —

_ Division. In the south of the district it is very much lowerthan
J— — o neha neh neil elt =|

ee aga > ae Fee ea PO ice
RENTS; WAGES AND PRICES.

he ploagh if only people Yo wultivate it were available. Many —

of the cultivators are even now in possession of more land than
they can cultivate, and owing to the absence of competition they

have generally not been disturbed in the enjoyment of their rights,

On the whole, they have more resources than any other class, and
are probably more comfortably off than the cultivators in the
densely inhabited districts of North Bihar.
As regards the labouring classes, the village artizans who never
Bo out of the village form a recognized part of the village com-
munity and are indirectly sopporied by agriculture. Asin other
parts of Bihar, the lot of unskilled landless labourers is a hard one.
They own no land, grow nocrops, and depend entirely on the
wages of labour. Spending what they earn from day to day, they
have very little to pawn or sell, and they are the first to feel the
pinch of searcity when any failure of the crops occurs. On tho
whole, however, they are better off than formerly, to jadge from
the greater rumber of utensile and ornaments they porsess, This
improvement of condition may probably be ascribed to the fact
that large numbers of labourers migrate year after year at the
beginning of the cold season, for temporary employment on roads,
tanks and railways, in the harvest field, and in other miscellaneous
employments, returning again at the end of hot weather in time
for the agricultaral operations which commence with the —
of the monsvon.
Side by vide with this class of free labourers there isa section

of the community known as kamiyds, i.e , labourers who sell thom.

selves to a master and whose position is that of mere serfs,
Kamiya. probably dates back to the time when the Aryans overran

the country and found the district inhabited by low castes of + ta

aboriginal cultivators, suitable labourers for a military aristocracy,
to whom it would have been’a severe degradation to handle the
plough. Formerly the éamiya used to sell both himself and his
heirs into bondage for a lump sum down; but this practice having
been declared illegal, he now hires bimself, in consideration of an
aadyanee or lean to serve for 100 years or more till the money is

.wepaid. They are not allowed to work for any one but their

master, except with his permission, and have their food supplied

: ee ee ey mr NOs 5 ee
ten bat Ah don Sane — Ys are not in wet

*

176 Gata. ome

even in lean years, whereas the ordinary labourer is the first t>
suffer in times of distress. Their master is bound to feed them
whatever the price of foodgrains may be, and if he neglects this
duty, the damiyaé is releas.d from his bond and is at liberty to
leave his service. On the other hand, their degradation is extreme
and the dieadvantages of their lotare very heavy, as shown in the
following description written by Mr. Stevenson-Moore :—“ This
is theone class in Gayi thatisentitled to the sympathies of the
philanthropist. The members of the landless labouring class,
other than samiyds, wander from village to village in search of
work, They are free, and if they get the opportunity fcr better-
ing their condition, can seize it, but the Aamiya can never have
such an opportunity. He is attached to a master who does not
give him more than sufficient to keep him in good working order.
If he deserts, Le is driven back by public opinion. He is ill-fed
and of poor physique. When not required by his master, he is
allowed to earn what he can by pé/si-carrying, wood-cutting and
other extrancous means ; but so degraded is his nature that he
usual'y dissipates one-fourth of his income in drink. The only

‘compensation he derives is that in times of famine his master

cavnot allow him to die of starvation. He can neither profit
by his industry nor suffer from his indolence. This system of
serfdom is no innovation, It is as old as the history of Gaya,
and I should imagine that it is on the decrease.”

We have then at the bottom of the social scale the landless
|:.bourers, who are miserably poor and are often pinched for food.
The more degraded members of this class are condemned by
immemorial custom to a state of serfdom ; and though the demand

for labour is very considerable and the supply is not excessive,

they seem to have little desire for emancipation. Higher in the
social grade come the cultivating and landholding classes, whose
income has increased considerably of late years. The great bulk of
the ryote enjoy a fixity of tenure which leaves them a fair share
in the produce, and the cultivators of small holdings, a class but
little superior to the labourer, have benefited greatly by the —

general rise in prices. The railways and roads place every part
within easy reach of the markets and enable them to dispose of
their surplus produce with ease, while irrigation renders a at :

: famine has never taken a real bold ——— prt

famine of 1887, which was probably the most severe famine

in Bibar sinc? 1770, did not affect the people much, Tho —

cultivating eloss have, moreover, a resourec unknown to the ryots

in Bengal proper in the cultivation of poppy, which plays an
important part in the rural economy of Gaya, Those who under-
take to grow it receive allowances in cash proportionate to the
area which they undertake to plant, and these advances aro mado
at atime when money is most coveted. By this means, large
sums find their way into the hands of the people ; in the famine
of 1896-97 over 254 lakhs was paid to the cultivators ; and though
the area under poppy has shrunk of late years, no lecs than 124,
lakhs was paid as advances in 1203-04. Desidcs this, emigration
is more active than elsewhere ; large numbers emigrate annually
in search of work ob the roads, railways and fields in the eastern
districts, and many thousands of the adult males of Gaya are to be,
found spread over other parts of India in quasi-permanent employ,
All these persons make remittances to their homes, while those
who migrate for a time bring back with them the balance of their
tavings ; in this way, large sume of money are sent and brought
into the district every year, and are expended in the support
of their families, In the famine year 1896-07 over 16} lakhs wag
paid by money order in the district, and from the fact that the
money orders were almost all for sams below Rs. 10, the average
being about half that sum, it may be concluded a large proportion
represented remittances sent by emigrants to their homes, Since —

that time this means of remitting money has grown in popus

larity ; and in 1994-05 the amount paid by money orler exceeded
$9 lakhs—a fact which may reasonably be tiken as an indication
of the increass! prosperity of the people.

CHAPTER XIII.

OCCUPATIONS, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE,
\Ocorra- _ IN Gaya, as in other Bengal districts, a large majority of the
oo yeople are engaged in agricultural pursuits, no less than 65 Itper
cent. of the whole population deriving their livelihood from
cultivation. Of these, 48 per cent. are aetual workers, among
whom are included 397,000 rent-payers, 214,000 labourers, and
15,000 rent-receivers. Of the remainder, 14 percent, are support-
ed by industries ; the professional classes account for 1°9 per cent.
of whom 40 per cent, are actual workers, ine'udiny 7,000 priests
and 1,500 teachers; and the commercial elass is even smaller,
amounting to only 0°6 per cent. Of the industrial population,
46 per cent. are actual workers, including 16.(00 cotion-weavers,
11,000 oil-pressers and sellers, 9,000 sellers of firewood, 8,600
dealers in pulee and grain, the same number of grocers and of
potters, 7,000 toddy-sellers, 6,000 carpenters, 5,000 cow-keepers
and milk-sellers, besides numerous tailors, shoe-makers, black-
siniths, basket-makers, and workers in gold and silver. Among
those engaged in other oceupations are 116,000 general labourers,
18,000 herdemen, 7,000 earth-workers and 6,000 beggars.

Though not so large as in the adjoining districts of Shababad
and Patna, the proportion of persons engaged in industrial oceu-
pations is very much greater than in the North Bibar districts,

" where native handicrafts are of far less importance. It has been ©
suggested that the reason of this is that, after the murderof —
Alamgir and the fall of Delhi in 1759 A-D., rome members of the
Mubammadan robility attached to the Mughal court retired to
_ the yagirs that bad been given them in the Patna, Gaya, and —
a. districts, bringing in “their train large ——

——

gts
8 —

Gaya contains no manufacturing towns or important trade TURF,
centres, and, as might be expected in a district where the great
majority of the people are engaged in agricultural and pastoral
pursuits and where the urban population is small, the bulk of the
industrial community are employed in supplying the simple needs

of a rural people. The people require very little that cannot be i
supplied by the village artizan beyond the common commodities Bs
imported everywhere in Bengal, such as Manchester pieve-goods =
and kerosine-oil ; and the various articles manufactured for local i
consumption, such as brass utensils, bell-metal ornaments, earthen- : a
ware pots, woollen blank: ts, cte., meet most of their wants. ;
Manufactures in the proper sense of the word are few in number i
and of little significance, and searcely any of the industries
produce anything for export. A short account of the principal
industries is given below.

The lac industry in this district is confined to the area com- Lae.
prised within the jurisdiction of the Imimganj and Dumaria
police-stations and the town of Daidnigar in the west. The
cultivation of lac is esrried on chiefly by the bhuiyas and other
low castes, who take out leases of the trees on which the insect
(Coceus (acca) is reared, at a rental of some four or five rupees for
each hundred trees. Lac merchants also take leases at similar
rates from the zamindars and employ labourers to rear the insects,
The tree most commonly used in the district is the palas (Butea
frondosa), which grows in large numbers to the south, but the
pipal (Ficus religiosa) is also sometimes used. The insects take
six months to complete the secretion of lac, and the lac harvest
is thus reaped twice annually, about the months of November
and May. When the secretion is complete, the twigs, on the
bark of which the lac incrustation has been formed, are cut off,
and the crade material is removed and ground in heavy stone
mills, When they have been thoreughly ground, they are sifted
in a coarse sieve, and the fragments of twigs which still remain
are removed. The grains of lac which are left are next washed
several times, by being loaded in big tubs and worked by the
stances are strained off; they are then strained through a cloth,

| with arson‘e and placed * long cloth bags. The latter are twisted

round and round before a fire, the leat of which causes the graing
4o melt and- ooze out ; the liquid lae is then scraped off the Lag
‘atid placed on a stone slab below it, It is generally gathered up
again and replaced in the bag till the lie is thoroughly melted
‘and the proper consistency is obtained ; and it is then pressed out
into (hin theets. It is now ready for ordinary rough work, and
is made into bangles, bracelets, rings, beads and other trinkets.
It is also employed by turners for the colouring of wooden toys,
by goldsmiths for the ooloning of metals, and for lacquered ware
generally, Nearly all the lac produced in the district is exported,
and the industry is in a flourishing condition, there being
$2 factories with an annual outturn of about 50,000 maunds.
Raw eugar, including molasses, jaggery and other erude

‘eaccharine produce, is one of the most important manufactures

in the district, large quantilics being sent out every year to
Eastern Rengal, the Central Provinces, Rajputana and Central
India; over 200,000 maunds of crude sugar are exported annually.
The prove.s of manufacture may be seen in every village ; it is
extremely simple; and the apparatus required is fur from elaborate.
To extract the juice (ras), the sugarcane is pressed in a mill
worked’ by bullocks. Formerly the mills used were primitive
wooden or stone machines, but in recent years the iron roller
mills, known as the Bihia mills, have cone into universal ase.
The juice extracted is poured into shallow iron pans, called
darahis, and boiled, the only fuel used being the eane-leaves and
the dried stalks from which the juice has been extracted. When
the juice thickens, it is poured into small pots aud exposed to
the air to harden, the molasses thus produced being knowa as

The manufacture of refined sugar is earried on only ona
very small seale, and the condition of the industry is in striking
contrast with that just mentioned. With the development of
owmnunications aud the growth of trade, the sugar-redning
ts wcitns Sel Sato — ————

‘declined and is now almost extinct.

One of the few industries which has not yot suffered from
the competition of foreign or machine-made articles, and which
is still in a prosperous condition, is the manufacture of brass
vutensils. These are made in the town of Gaya at Marufganj,
Gayawalbigha, and Buniadganj, and at Kenar in the head quar-
ters subdivision ; at Hasua and Kauwikol in the Nawada sub-
division ; and at Daddnagar and Nabinagar in the Aurangabad
‘subdivision. A large number of elegant brass vessels are made
at the latter plac®, and some of those turned out at Gay’ are
chased with some skill. The braziers of the town also manufac-
ture figures of Hindu deities, which are taken away by pilgrims ;
in considerable quantities. Except at these ities, the village Psa
workers confine themselves almost exclusively to the manufacture a
of bracelets and anklets of bell-metal, which the lower classes uso me
instead of more costly ornaments.

Cotton weaving was formerly a lirge and prosperousindustry, Cotton
which was of such importance 100 years ago that, in addition to
the central depét at Patna, the old East India Company had
three cloth factorics in the district of Bihar, situated at Jahani-
bid, Maghra and Bigha, besides five subordinate factories and 22
houses for the purehase of cloth. According to Buchanan Hamil-
ton, the agent of the Company “entered into engagements with
2,200 of the best weavers in the country round Jahanabad,
including that division, Holasganj, Sahebgunj, and afew perhaps —
in Vikram, Arwal, Daudnagar and the corner of Ramgar, next to
that town. Each man on becoming bound (Assami) to the
Company received two rupees, and engaged not to work for any
person until he had made as mach as the Company required ;
and no other advance has ever been made by the commercial

-residents. The agent orders each man to make a certain number
‘of pieces of such or such goods, and he is paid for each omits —
delivery, according to the price stated in the tables.” This
extensive industry is now a thing of the past, and as in other

~ Manchester article is called, can be readily understood, as a piece

ihe

hi

ie
Nae
ee

he
pee
tis i
ia

— —
—

—

—

of country cloth costs Re. 1-4 and will last 8 or 9 months, whereas
a piece of markin of the same size will last 6 months, but will be
only half the price.

The well-to-do have now discarded the esarse cotton cloth
of the district, but weaving is still carried on to some extent, as
the poorer classes prefer it on account of its strength, durability
and greater warmth. This mofia or gazi cloth is still used in the
winter, the men wearing it in the shape of dhotis, mirzdis (jackets)
and dohars or duldis, which take the place of quilts, while
women of the labouring, artizan and shop-keeper classes use it in
the shape of saris and urtas (bodices or chemisettes). It is
woven in all parts of the district, the weavers being mostly
Jolihas, though gsome Patwas in Gayawalbigha and Buniadganj
also sometimes produce it instead of tuscer silk. The profits of
manufacture are very small, being, it is said, about 2 pice for
every yard of a breadth of 27 inches ; a cloth 15 yards in length
takes 8 days to finish, and the profits would therefore be about
9 annas for every 8 days, or about Rs, 5-10 a month, assuming
dhat the weaver is always fully omployed. This however is not
the case and if all the numbers of the Jolaha caste had to depend
on the produce of their looms, they would have disappeared long
ayo. Many of them have now forsaken their hereditary calling
for more profitable occupations, and others who still work their
looms cke out their slender earnings by agriculture and labour of
various kinds. Every year large numbers of them seek service
in the jute mills on the Hooghly or work as menials in Calcutta,
and those that still ply the trade have seldom more than one
loom at work at a time, whereas formerly the number was only
limited by that of the members of the family who could work.

The woollen fabric industry may be divided roughly into ¢wo
branches, the manufacture of the country blankets of rough texture
ordinarily used by the poorer classes, and the manufacture of
carpets called indiscriminately Aalins and galtchas in this district,
which are of a superior texture and require more skilled workman-

ship. The manufacture of coarse blankets is confined to one class
Be Sete = Sok we who keep sheep, shear
i i gael the wool tate cloth, and sali the tinekete- ‘The price se

NEE —— STAD
pt ae

eaves QorURES AND TRADE,

“of the material, but as the wool is the produce of the sheep
which the Gareris themselves rear, the whole price of the cloth
they weave is pure gain, for the cost of the loom and other
instruments used in weaving is practically nothing. Part of
the plant is home-made, and the rest is bought from the village
blacksmiths and carpenters, the total value of a complete woollen
weaving outfit being less than 8 annas, including the home-made
instruments. The only places now noted for the manufacture
of blankets are Amba and Chilki in the jurisdiction of the
Kutumba outpest, where blankets of superior finish and greater
thickness are made, ornamental designs being occasionally in-
troduced. These blankets are generally made to order for the
richer classes, as they are much more expensive than those of the
ordinary type. The latter are exported in smal] quantities, buat
are mostly made for local use, a coarse blanket being the only
protection against the cold that the poorer classes can afford,

Carpet-weaving is practically confined to the villages of Obra ; 9
and Koraipar and the town of Datdnagar in the Aurangabad |
subdivision, where some Muhammadan (Kalinbaf) families mono- Rs

polize the trade. The carpets they produce are generally made
of cotton, but frequently wool is mixed with the cotton, or else
wool only is used. They vary in size, colour, texture and design
according to the demand or to such special orders as may be
received. The price varics from about Rs. 3 to upwards of
Rs. 500, according to the size and quaility, the annaal value of the
total onttarn being about Rs. 5,00) or Rs. 6,000. The carpets are
exported to a small extent to Calcutta, and may often be seen
in the booths at the various fairs held in Gaya and the neigh-
bouring districts.

Silk-weaving is carried on at Manpur and Buniadganj on
thovoutskirts of Gaya, to a small extent in the Gayawalbigha
mahatla in the town itself, and at Chakand some 5 miles to the
north ; at Kadirganj and Akbarpur in the Nawida subdivision ;
and at DaGdoagar in the Aurangibad subdivision, Tho silk
produeed is that known as tusser (¢asar) ; it is generally of a
coarse description, and much of it is remarkable neither
_ durability mor beauty. The class rich enough to bay expe

silk is necessarily somewhat tmall, and is generally able t
se silk of a better quality, such ag that of Murshidg

- ‘the — at a lowv rate. Such competition naturally tells againet

*heapness ot ‘carriage afforded by the icy, puts on

the home-made article, and the result is that the cloth woven tends
to deteriorate in quality. The best kinds are now rarely woven,
and the quantity of coarse bafta (mixed tusser and cotton) turned
out by the local looms is on the increase,

On the whole, however, the industry is in a fairly flourishing
condition, and so far the weavers have been ablo to hold their
own, largely owing to the fact that silk is used by Hindus for
religious purposos. From Vediv times the use of silk fabrics
on ceremonial occasions has been enjoined on Hindus ; those who
can afford it regard it as incumbent on them to wear silk daily
at the time of worship; and foreign silks or silks containing an
admixture of other fibres are prohibited for such ceremonial
purposes. ‘The silk-manufacturing industry has thus a peculiar
vitality of its own, which is not shared by the cotton-weaving
industry ; and consequently the weavers, who have the advantage
of living close toa pilgrim city, manaze to earn a competence by
weaving alone ; some of them indeed are in easy circumstances
and have considerable incomes, Most of them have only one loom,
but some have as many as four or five, the industry giving
employment to all the members of a family, as the men weave,
the women spin, and the children set the warp. The cocoons have
not to be got from any great distance, as they are imported from
the jungles in Palamau and Hazaribagh to the south ; and there
is a sufficient demand for the finished product lozally, Gaya
itself offers a good market for its sale, owing to the number of
priests who officiate there and of pilgrims who are. glad to}
take away with them a piece of the local silk, and besides this a
considerable quantity is exported to Azimgarh and elsewhere.
Most of the cloth is used for saris, chadars, kurtas, etc., but ↄ
great deal is woven and exported for use as shrouds in which to.
wind the dead, The weavers are most numerous in Manpur and
Buniadganj ; but even here they form a small community. Their

~ vale of — ‘ridding, in. the demndo eoding Sa: :
1, from Re. 25,000 to Rs.80,000 ; and as the number —

_ Sarving is carried on, The principal seat of the- industry is

—

lalter date. I went through the remotest recesses of the extensive,
Redes —— obesioing: seis ally

ous — Ailes he districte in Bengal ia w

Pathalkati, a village some 19 miles north-cast of Gaya, but there
are also some workmen at Dhanmahua and Sapneri, 3 and 4 miles _
respectively west of that place, and at the foot of the Manglagauri -
Hill in Gaya itself. The art is said to have been introduced by
some workmen of Jaipur, who were brought to Gaya to build the
Vishnupad temple some 110 years ago, and, their attention having
been attracted by the possibilities of the quarry at Pathalkati,
eventually gave up the idea of returaing to their homes and set- Se
tled there. The present race of stone-carvers say that their fore-
fathers were skilled sculptors, and point to the image of the Sun ia
god in the local temple as a specimen of their proficiency, but tho
art bas now fallen to a low state, With a few exceptions, only
plain vases, cups, bowls, dishes and cups of a stereotyped pattern
are manufactured, but some of the carvers produce ornamental
vases, figures of gods, human beings, animals, etc., carved with a
certain amount of taste and kill, The equipment of the workshop
is primitive, and the implements used consist merely of a chisel,
hammer, compasses, a roller which serves the purposes of a lathe,
and a xarhané or thin picce of iron used to apply lac, cement -
broken pieces, or place the rough article on the lathe to be polished.
The process is a simple one, as after the stone has been carved and _
polished, it is only necessary to blacken it, which is done by means
of soot either alone or mixed with the juice of sim leaves (Dolichos
Lablab). These articles find a ready sale in Gaya, where they ato
in great request among the pilgrims; while some serve a useful
purpose locally, such as the sAarals or mortars used by native.
medical practitioners for compounding medicines.

The following account of the wood-carving of Gaya, is — Ww
from the Monograph on Wood-carving in Bengal, by Chevalier 0, “'™
Ghilardi (1908) :—“In thie old city the wood-carving industry _
must bave reached the apex of the beautiful as shewn inthe __
examples which belong to the earliest periods of this art. Uni
pily this excellence has not been maintained in the pieces «

—

J
|

country, such es the manufacture of tiles and pottery by the

” —
temples which seem so gloriously to defy the ravages of the cen
turies. I visited the house of Rai Bebari Lall Barrick Bahadur,
where the best specimen of ancient carving can be admired and
profitably studied. Here I found a door with its pillars, architravs
and frivzcs so admirably carved that they might well be exhibited
ina museum. Near this house is the corner of a very narrow lane,
at which there is a small house evidently old, and displaying some
beautiful carvings of the more minute style, almost resembling
¢hased silver or filigree work. The natives themselves have great
veneration for this building, owing to the beautiful construction of
its verandah, beams, pillars, and friezcs. Many other fine exam-
ples here are injured by several coats of tar having been laid over
them in such a way as almost to obliterate the ancient carving, of
which little or no trace is now visible. * * * Thereisnow
no wood-carver in Gaya able to do any work similar to these
splendid remains. The mistries are mere carpenters, and very
seldom receive orders for even common carving. * * * All
the mistries, when not engaged on simple carpenter’s constructive
work, employ themselves making boxes of different sizes, inlaid
with brass—a very common work indeod in this locality, for
which there is always a demand, and fiom which they can earn
from 8 to 12 annas per day. ”

From the preceding account it will be seen that the art of
wood-carving is almost extinct in this district ; and it is notioe-
able that the fine work referred to above is only found in the old
town of Gaya, and not in the modern quarter. With a few
exceptions, this curving possesses all the characteristics of the
Burmese manner, and there is now no demand for good work of
this kind.

The other manufactures are of little importance, with the
exception of tobacco curing, which is an important local indus-
try, although the leaf itself has to be imported, chiefly from
Tirbut. The principal centres of manufacture are Gaya, Gurnd
and Paibigha, the brand manufactured in the latter place being

held in much esteem all over India ; 30,000 maunds are exported

-Kumbire, of gold and silver ornaments by the Sons;
oil by the Telis.. The later industry

seriously affected by competition ; ;and ——
continue to be pressed in the old-fashioned country mills, the .
manufacture of vegetable oils is everywhere suffering from the
increasing use of mineral oils, Of there regular village artizans: i
practically the only class which exports anything consists Of ee
the Chamirs, as hides are cuxd in many places for export, .
though there is no large tannery in the dis: rict. ‘
The south-east corner of the district forms pirt of the Mryas. *
mica-producing area of Bengal, which coincides with a great yyieq,
belt of schists and associated gne‘ssose granite, some 12 miles
broad and 60 miles long, stretching from Hazaribagh through
the south of the Nawada srbdivision into Monghyr. In this
portion of the district there are 6 miea mines, situated at Singar,
Sapabi, Basauni, and Belam, and in tae Government estates of
Chatkari and Dubaur; but the mineral is also found in small
quantities in other localities among the hills in the south on the
border of Hozaribigh. During the last 15 years the produc-
tion of mica in Bengal has undergone a phenomenal develops
ment, in which this district has shared very fully. In 1891
the industry was aliost non-existent, the total production in
the whole Province being only valued at Rs. 87,000; whereas
in 1904-05 the outturn in Gaya alone was 246 tons, valued
at over 1} lukhs of iupces; of this amount, the Singar-and
Chatkari nines produced 54 and {8 tons respectively. Tho
methods of working are very simple. The seamsare reached by
blasting, and the sheets of mica are dug cut with spade and
pick, after which they are ceparated, clipped and sorted ; they
sre then packed according to sizes and despatched to Calvutta ae
for export to Europe and Amcrica. The industry gives employ- a
ment to an average daily number of 1,269 persons, of whom
94 work belcw and 285 above ground ; the labourers are drawn
from the ordinary labouring classes and are paid a wage varying
from two to six annas, according to age, sex and skill. ee
Tron ore is found in considerable quantities at PacLamba
im the Nawada subdivision and Lodhwe in the headquarters
subdivision, Lut is not worked there. It also exists in the Baribar
J Hills where there were formerly smelting works under European
i —

— amb ce

—

Mills, for building purposes and road — Hee as
-* Gaya black stone, of which ornaments, bowls and figures are
‘ carved, is, as already stated, quarricd at Pathalkati in the
Atri thana. Pottery clay exists in many places and nodules
Ge of iimestone are found in seattered localities. Saltpetre is manu-
eee ⸗ factured in the Jahkanabad subdivision from efflorescence in the
. clay of village sites, but elsewhere the manufacture is merely
Ws nominal, owing to the fact that the soil is not saliferous,

Traps , The district being almost purely agricultural, the chief trade
consists of the various products of cultivation, The principal
exports are cereals, pulses, oil-seeds, raw sugar, crude opium,
mahud fruit, saltpetre, mica, lac, blankets, carpets, stone and brass

Be utensils, hides and manufactured tobacco. The principal imporis
* are salt, coal and coke, piece-goods and shawls, kerosine-oil, tea,
cotton, timber, taboceo (unmanufactured dry leaves), iron, spices
of all kinds, dried and fresh fruits, refined sugar, paper and
various articles of European manufacture.
_ Bxporte. According to the returns showing the export and import
5 traffic, by far the most important articles of export are linseed,
raw sugar, gram and pulse, these commodities accounting for
~ seven-cighths for the total export trade. The quantity of linseed
ialPront out of the district forms more than a third of the total
~ exports, and nearly the whole of this finds its way to Calcutta
; and Howrah. The metropolitan districts, in.fact, receive by far
the greater part of the products exported, with the exception of
rice, which is distributed among the other Bibar districts, and of
raw sugar, which is consigned in lange quantities to the Central
Provinces, Central India, Eastern Bengal and the ajoining
district of Monghyr. Amongother exports, crude opium is taken
to Patna, where it is manufactured in the Government factory ;
hides, mica and saltpetre to Calcutta; and blankets to Howrah
and the districts of the Chota Nagpur Division. Lac is chiefly
exported to Caleutta, Patna and Mirzapur, manufactured tobacco
to Patna and Howrsh, and wood and mahud flowers to Patna and
‘Monghyr. Stoneware is taken to all parts of —

Sees

ee ae eee

‘OCCUPATIONS, MANUFACTURES AR FRADE. “180

kerosine-oil from the 24-Parganas ; gunny-bags from Calcutta
and Pataa ; shawls from Kashmir and Rajputéna ; »cotton from —
the United Provinces ; timber from Patna and Nepal ; bamboos ‘sg
from Patna ; unmanufactured tobacco and fresh fruit from Patna og
and Muzaffarpur ; and paper from’Serampore, Bally and Caloutta, Fe

The chief centres of trade are Gaya, Tekiri, Gurat, Raniganj Trade 4
and Imimganj in the headquarters subdivision.; Rajauli ante :
Akbarpur in the Navada subdivision ; Jahanabad and Arwal in

the Jahinabid subdivision and Daddnagar, Deo, Mahirajganj, a
Khiriawin, Rafiganj and Jambor in the Aurangabad subdivision. ‘
Owing to the opening of new railways, which now tap most of

the trade routes in the district, several other places are rising

in importance, the most noticeable being Nawada. Feeder roads

have been constructed by the District Board wherever required, 9
and trade tends to converge upon the Railway stations. For the + ae
eonveyance of produce, bullock carte are generally used, but
pack-bullocks are also very largely employed, eepecially in the
hilly'parts.

. There ere a large number of fairs held in differont parts of the Faire.
year throughout tho district, but most are only religious gather-

ings and of little importance from a commercial point of view

The greatest of these fairs are the Bisud and Kartik Purna: —
fairs held at Salempur near Gaya, the Bisua meld held at Rafiganj ~
and the Sivaritri me/a held at Deokund, at which » busy trade is
driven in cattle, piece-goods, brassware, earthenware, and a variety

of articles of country manufacture. The Bisud fair at Salempur,
which is held in the month of Chait (March-April), attracts about
15,000 people, and the fair held at the same time at Rafiganj
attracts as many more ; these are the largest cattle fairs in the
district, and great numbers of cattle and horses are brought to
them for sale. At the same time, there are smaller gatherings at
Gurui to the south-west of Gaya, at Machendra in the Nawaca
sabdivision, and at the falls of Kakolat. The other great fair at
-Salempur, the Kartik Parnamashi, is strictly » bathing festival

» deldin November on the last day of Kartik, when about 10,000 —

assemble to bathe in the Phalgu. Similar gatherings take

place on the same day at Guru, at Bharéri and Jahanabid inthe
‘ subdivision of that name, and at Jambor in the . trae
_ eaablivtsion, The Sivkrati fairs at Deokund’ ne “held in

ie ch ee ee a : Pita Teas

ig ee
190. of oe —
Ke commemoration of the marriage of Siva, and take place trtice fi
the year, once in the month of Phagun (February-March) and
again in Baisikh (April-May); the number assembling on each
oceasion is estimated to amount to 20,000 or 30,000. Similar
faire are also held in Phigunat Wazirganj, Dumaria, Bafachatti
and Fatehpur in the headquarters subdivision, and at Baréwin
in Aurangabad. ;
Among other fairs there are two of considerable local impor-
tanee, A large concourse of people, numbering about 4,000 or
6,000 persons, meet at the fair known as Chiath which is held at
Deo twice a year, in October on the 22nd Kartik and again in
April on the 22nd Chait, in honour of the Sun god ; and some ~
10,000 to 15,000 people assemble at the Aghani me/é at Sitamarhi
which is held in December on the last day of Aghan in honour of
Sita, the wife of Rima,'who is said to have spent some time there
Fy. during her exile. The only other fairs which call for separate
. mention are the Sankrinti mela held in the month of Magh
(January-February) on the Makara Sankranti (the passage of the
i sun from Sagittarius to Capricornus) at the town of Gaya, at
bas the hot springs of Tapoban near Wazirganj, and at Jamhor and
beet Umga ; and the Anantehaudas, celebrated in the month of Bhido
, (Angust-September). in honour of Siva, when about 15,000
pe people gather at the Baribar Hills. The duration of these fairs
ee varies from one to seven days, except those held at Umga and
iat. Rafiganj, which last for two weeks. .
There is no uniform system of weights and measures in the
Gaya district, as though the maund is recognized as equivalent
to 8 paseri or 40 seers, both the paseri and the seer vary in
different places, The paseri, though literally meaning 5 seers,
vanges from 6 to 74 seers according to local custom, and the seer
again varies from 42 to 84 ¢olds. The standard seer of 80 folds
is universally recognized for the weighment of ganja, bhang,
opium and precious metals, but different localities give a different
value to the soer in weighing other articles. The various values of
the seer are reported to be as follows: in Aurangabad town, Gaya *
‘town and the NawéSda subdivision 42 and 72 folds; in the Arwal
thitma 44 golfs; in Tekiri, Rajauli, Kauwakol and the head~
ee et ees
—— — ———— a

Sok
observed in Gays is 8% folds. On the other hand, the
seer of 80 folds is generally recognised for measures of
and is held to be equivalent to 1-142 quarts. For

Seiatk the Govennanmt yond of 36 inches ae eer
is used for cloth, side by side with various local yards, ¢g., the
Gag6 ued fa 41 inches, that used in Nawhds and Hesub towile ®

is 40 inches, and elsewhere in the Nawida subdivision it is

89 inches. For measuring lands and houses the Aa¢h, or cubit,
is in universal use, but its length varies from 16 to 20 inches; —

for measuring lands, the bins, which generally is equivalent to
six cubits or 108 inches, is employed ; and for measuring walls

— Oo he aes a

33 inches.

CHAPTER XIV.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION,
‘fun acc®unt of the Gaya roads given by Buchanan Hamilton
nearly 100 years ago presents a vivid pieture of the deficiency
of communications at that time, “During the rainy season,”
he says, “all internal commerce is at a complete standstill, as the
roads are then so bad as not to admit of even cattle travelling
with back loads. I have seen no country, that could be called
at all civilized, where so little attention has been paid to this
important subject, and even in the vicinity of the jails, where
many convicts sentenced to labour are confined, very little hae
been done, The cross roads from market to market are those
which are chiefly wanted, and no one who has not seen the
condition of these could believe that a country so extremely
populous and rich, and having such occasion for land conveyance,
could be so ill provided. The object in such roads is not to
enable gentlemen to drive their curricles, but to enable cattle
carrying back loads to pass at all seasons from one market to
another, and in the fair season to enable earts to do the same.”
This is not a very high standard of efficiency; but it is clear
from the absence of local carts for the carriage of supplies during
the Mutiny that there was but little improvement in the sue-
ceeding half century, though the Grand Trunk Road and the
Patna-Gayi Road were important trade routes. The Collector,
in his account of the events of 1857, speaks of the difficulty he
had in supplying the indents made on him for carriage: all
transport, he said, was carried on by means of small pack-
“Dullocks, unless, on account of their size, for military purposes 5
‘he could hire no carts, and so had to make them. Altogether
_ 86 carte wore supplied in this way, and the fact that it

communication. The Patna-Gay& canal passes along its western
boundary for over 40 miles, the Grand Trunk Road runs aloug
through the southern portion for nearly 70 miles, the interior is
covered by a network of roads and the map of the district is now
intersected from north to south and from east to west with rail-
way lines.

Tho present system of roads is a creation of the last half
century. Fifty years ago the only road by which a traveller
could go to Calcutta was the Grand Trunk Road, the only means
of conveyance were the relays of carriages provided by various
contractors, and the state of the country was so unsettled that
@onstables had to be stationed in stage-huts built at short inter- —
vals. Tothe north the principal route open to traſſo was the om
Patna-Gayi Road along which the railway now posses, but this =
was unmetalled, and in the rainy season communication with
Patna was almost entirely interrupted. During the famine of
1866, when it was the one channel through which food could be
brought in to feed the starving people, it was impassable, the
population was cut off from supplies, and the severity of the
famine was consequently aggravated. By 1875 this road had been
metalled throughout its length, and there were but two other
metalled roads, the Grand Trunk Road and the Bihir-Rajauli
Road. Three other roads only were considered of sulflicient
importance to deserve separate mention, viz., those from Gaya
to Daddnagar, to Sherghati, and to Nawada, and of the 97 miles
they covered only 16 were metalled. Besides these, there were
8 other unmetalled roads of less importance with a total length
of 163 miles, and most of these had been constructed or put inte
working order during the famine of 1874. -

_ At the present time, the district is intersected by a number —
iat eqesltons senile whieh place every part of it within easy reach

=

—

uad wooden wheels suitable for the rough country which they

194 GAYA,

respectively, and in addition to these there are 67 miles of
metalled and 168 nsiles of unmetalled roads in the charge of the
Public Works Department. The most important of these roads
is the Grand Trunk Road, maintained from Provincial funds,
which passes through the south of the district for a distance of
65 miles. It enters Gaya from the Hazaribagh district near
Bhalua, and leaves it by a great causeway in the bed of the Son
at Baron, crossing on its way the broad streams of the Mohana,
Morhar, Batane and Punpũn, ard passing the trade centres of
Barachatti, Sherghati and Aurangabad. The other roads of
greatest importance are those running from Gaya to various
parts of the district, such as that joining the Grand Trank Road
at Dobhi, and the roads to Datdnagar and to Sherghati, the
latter and its continuation to Imimganj and Dumaria being the
chief line connecting Gayé and Palimau before the opening of
the new line of railway from Barun to Daltonganj. Some roads
leading from Gayi, which were formerly the principal trade
routes, such as those to Aurangabad, Jahinibad and Nawada,
have now lost much of their importance owing to the railway
lines which run parallel to or alongside them, though they still
serve a useful purpose as feeder roads. In the interior traffic is
beaviest along the road from Jahanabid to Arwal (21 miles) and
that running for 24 miles from Rajauli to Nawida and thence
across the border at Kharhat to Bihar, which brings down the
produee of the hills.

Much of the internal trade of the distriet is still carried very
largely by pack-bullocks, as the villages off the roads are not
acocasible to carts in all months of the year. The irrigation
ghannels spread out in all directions, and the nature of the soil,
which, being largely composed of clay, becomes very heavy when
wet, precludes bullock carts from travelling about with the same
ease and freedom as in North Bihar. It is not until the cold
weather that the interior of the country is opened out to them,
and during the rains pack-bullocks ply to and from the villages, = __
They are also largely in request in the broken hilly country to
the south, where the only carts in use are low, strong carts with =

navé to cross, — ———
er parts of ght spr “s

' Sais ak Genes ttngs helene Ge te mi
way there are camel carts carrying passengers and goods, Gaya
being one of the districts furthest south in which camels thrive
and can be usefully employed.

Great activity has been shown in recent years in planting
‘roadside avenues along the principal roads. In the quinquennium
ending in 1904-05 the expenditure on the planting of trees and
the establishment of nurseries was greater than in any other
district in the Division. It is estimated that 138 miles of roads
require to be planted; though it is doubtful if any road can be
eaid to have been completely planted as the avenues ere seldom
continuous for a complete mile, and there are many gaps where’
the trees have died out. A programme has been prepared, under
which 69 miles are to be planted by the end of 1907-08, and this
programme is being worked up to.

The district is singularly well served by railways, which
have made the headquarters station the centre of a number of
radiating lines and of a busy railway system. It has for many
years been the terminus of the Patna-Gaya Railway, but within
the last few years no less than 3 new lines have been opened,
and one more is now ander construction. To the north, the
Patna-Gayai Railway connects it with the main line of the East
Indian Railway at Bankipore, 34} miles of it and 6 stations
besides Gaya lying within the district. To the east the South
Bihar Railway runs east from Gaya to Lakbisarai through the
Nawada subdivision, 58 miles of the line and 9 stations falling
within the district. To the east is the Mughalsarai-Gaya Rail-
way running from Gaya through the Aurangabad subdivision
to Mughalearai, 5) miles of the line and 7 stations lying within
Gaya; and to the south-west the Birun-Daltonganj Railway
takes off at Barun on the Son, and, passing by Nabinagar, rans
a distance of 22} miles before it enters the Palamau district,
A fifth line running through the south-east of the district from
Gaya to Katr&+garh is now under construction, of which 34 miles _
will fall within Gaya district. When comyleted, this line will,
with the Mughalsarai-Gaya line, form the Grand Chord line to
a — “
: None of the wives, except the Son, are navigable,

E

importance. by the — the small — oer .
boats of more than 20 maunds proceeding up-stream, while the
violent floods in the rains equally deter large boats, though boate
of 500 or 600 maunds occasionally sail up it. Except one or
- two streams which retain a little water in the ‘dry season, the
rivers are only filled during the rains, and even then the water
passes off in a few days, When they are in flood, they qiickly
become unfordable, and, ag a rule, no boats are obtainable, exeept
at the ferries which are few and far between. The country
people however provide a ready substitute in the shape of light
tafte, called glarnais, made of a light framework of bamboos
supported on inverted earthenware pots (ghara). Besides this,
the District Board maintains ferries across the larger rivers,
where they are not bridged. The most important ferry is that
across the Son from Daadnagar to Nasriganj in Shahabad. On
the Patna-Gayia canal a small steamer plies weekly, but there is
not much traffic.
There are altogether 712 miles of postal communication and
76 post-offices in the district. The number of postal articles
delivered in 1904-05 was 1,095,648, including letters, post--
cards, packets, newspapers and parcels; the value of the money.
orders issued was over 15 lakhs, and of those paid nearly,
24 lakhs, and the total amount of Savings Bank deposits was.
Rs, 2,10,000. There are also 8 telegraph offices, from which.
21,800 messages were issued in the year; these offices are
situated at Gaya, Aves, Aurangail ad, Barun, Daadvagar, *
abad, Nawida and Tekari.

—

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

Wauex the Diwan: or fiscal administration of the three Pro- 5
vinees of Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa was granted to the BEast —
India Company in 1765 by the Emperor Shih Alam, a dual rn "f
system of government was inaugurated, by which the English
received the revenues and undertook to maintain the army, while
the criminal jurisdiction, or Nizimat, was vested in the Nawab.
But, though the civil and military power of the country and the
resources for maintaining it were assumed on the part of the
Company, it was not thought prudent to vest the direct manage- =.
ment of the revenue in the hands of Europeans whose pre- 4
vious training in mercantile affairs had not qualified them to © |
deal with the intrieacies of the revenue system. Accordingly, © |
they continued the existing system of administration, and until
1769 a native Naib or Deputy Diwan condueted the collection
of the revenue under the nominal control of the European
Chief at Patoa. Tn 1760 Supervisors were appointed in subordi-
nation to the Chief to seperintend the native officers employed
in collecting the revenue and administering justice, and in tho ay
succeeding year a Revenue Couneil of Control was established us
at Patna. When, however, the Court of Directors sent out
orders in 1771 “ to stand forth as Diwan and by the agency of the
Company’s servants to take upon themselves the entire care and
management of the revenues,” the Naib Diwan at Patna was
removed, and it was decided to substitute European for native
agency. The Supervisors were now designated Collectors, and a
native officer styled Diwan was associated with each in the
“ euperintendency of the revenues.” In the following year, it
was determined to make a five years’ settlement of Bihar, and

the zamindars having declined to aceept a farm of the revenucs of _
districts, the system of putting them up to public competi- —
_A body of speculators, called renters;
and farmed the revenue till 1777, the

—

—

wee:

BI eg eid

a
>»

PAE Se TE

Sern tor Mbich Neayes: ——

*

4*

198 a * GAYA, — Teg - —*
“a8 these speculators, ignorant of the real capabilities of the

country and incited by the hopes of profit, readily agreed for
sums which they were utterly unable to pay ; and on the expiry
of. the settlement it was determined to introduce the system of
yearly farms. This arrangement only intensified the mischief ;
the renters had no assurance that they would hold the farm
another year or even have time to collect the current demand ;
they “exacted as much as they could extort in the shortest time
possible ; and knowing that they would be imprisoned for any
arrears, they made every endeavour to amass a fortune as soon
as they could.

The Diwan of the Company, Raja Kalyan Singh, exercised
arbitrary powers over the zamindars, confining them and con-
fiscating their estates practically at his pleasure, and the authority
of his Nath Diwan, Raja Kheali Ram Singh, was almost as
extensive. Raja Mitrajit Singh of Tekari was placed under
close arrest by the latter, who sent a Government agent to
manage his estale ; Raja Nariyan Singh, the zamindar of Siris
and Kutumba, was imprisoned and ousted from his property ;
and Raja Akbar Ali Khan of Narhat and Samai was put under
arrest at Patna. Such being the state of affairs, the zamindars

* being liable to be imprisoned and dispossessed of their estates

at any moment for arrears of revenue, it is not surprising that
when Chait Singh’s rebellion broke out in 1781, some of the
discontented chiefs took sides against the English, to whose
mismanagement they naturally attributed their misfortunes. As
soon as the rebellion started, Akbar Ali Khan made his escape
from Patna, and going to Nawida, raised a force of 4,000
or 6,000 matchlockmen, with which he proceeded to plunder the
country. A small expedition was sent out to quell the insurree-
‘tien and capture the rebel, but it was not till large reinforce-
ments had arrived that he was driven out to the Kharagpur hills
in Monghyr, Narayan Singh also took advantage of the
confusion to raise the standard of revolt, and took the field

with a body of 1,500 troops against Major Crawfurd, panes.

on the match to Bijaigarh. The English commander

avoided him and got through to the Kaimu¥ hills, but next year

he received orders to seize the traitor, and shutting up every

—
—* a aa

* eee Se

was abolished in 1781, foi rin a ea he a

retreat, left him only the ——
delivering himself at Patna, The rebel chief adopted the latter —
course, and was finally sent as a State prisoner to Dacca. :

In the meantime, the whole of Bihar had been settled with =
Kalyan Singh, who proceeded to divide the settlement with sae
Kheali Rim Singh. Neither of them, however, was in a posi= fe
tion to manage such a large extent of country, and they»were HY
forced to let out tho parganas to farmers or sub-renters dialled 4
Gmils. In many cases the ancient families of zamindirs seeured
the farms, Wht in others the dmils were strangers and speoulgtors,
with no local influence or prestige, and utterly ignorant of the
people and their rights. Sepoys had to be sent to assist them
in enforcing yayment ; they collected the rents at the point of
the bayonet, wrangled with the local zamindirs on the one hand, J
“oppressed the ryots on the other, and embezzled as much as they Wes
could, The dm?s bad to be constantly changed, no less than six
being employed one after the other in Siris and Kutumba in
1783 ; und the practical result of this system may be gathered
from a report of the Revenue Chief in 1782, in which he stated
that he could get no one to accept the farm of Narhat and Samai,
as “ the confusion occasioned by the variety of dGmils sent into
these parganas has lessened the number of ryots very consider-
ably, and cultivation is entirely neglected.”

These disastrous experiments in revenue administration were Apsryrs-
not finally ended till the decennial) settlement was concluded in
1790 and declared to be permanent in 1798, In justice, how- —
ever, to the officers responsible for the administration, it should ae
be said that proper supervision was practically impossible owing
to the smallness of the staff and the vast territory under their
control, ‘Till 1774 the European Collectors controlled the
revenue administration, and also exercised a general superintete ·
dence over the Criminal and Civil Courts; but in that year —
they were withdrawn, and their duties were transferred to

Revenue Council established at Patna, while the administration —
f justice was entrusted to native officers. This Council again

> 5 -

~~. : ’ GAYA. : *

Patna and the northern portion of Gayã; but for judicial pur-
poses Bihar was now formed into a district, a covenanted} Judge-
Magistrate being placed in charge of the civil and eriminal
jurisdiction. Five years afterwards the powers of the Collector,
Civil Judge and Magistrate were vested in the same person, but
* for criminal cases the real power was left with the native Judges
ii

till 1798. The offices of Judge and Collector were then again
ge ‘separated, and the district of Bibar had ont civilian as Civil
Be Tudge.and Magistrate, and a second as Collector underthe Board,
of Revenue. At the same time, native Munsifs were appointed
ke to hear and decide, in the first instance, suits relating to personal
\ property not exceeding the value of Rs. 100, appeals from their
decision lying to the Civil Judge.

The whole of the south of Gaya was included in Ramgarh,
ao a huge amorphous district, including practically the whole of
; Chota Nagpur and stretching on the south to Jasbpur, Gangpur

and Singhbhim. This district, we are told,* was “ long

distinguished for the numerous crimes and devastation which
ocasioned annually the loss of many good soldiers from the
unhealthiness of the country. The residence fo the Magistrate was
eually above the ghauts or passes into the mountains, and
¢ircumstances frequently rendered his visiting places also within
the ghauts necessary. In this predicament it became difficult
for him to exercise an effectual control over the territory adjoin-
ing to Babar proper, which state of things weuld naturally
suggest the epediency of transferring all such places to the
latter district. But here obstacles presented themselves, the
jurisdiction of Bihar being already so extensive, that the man-
agement of any addition of magnitude would be utterly beyond
‘Pho natural powers of any single Judge and Magistrate. To

“Sbviate this objection as far as practicable, it was recommended

that a Joint-Magistrate should be stationed at Sherighautty.” —

“his proposal was sanctioned, and in 1814 special Joint- —

Magistrate was stationed at Sherghiti with jurisdiction over the _
southern portion of Gaya, the remainder being still included iw

we : Baie i
‘

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

"purposes there were native Munsife “under a’ Judge-Magistrate =
from whom again an appeal Isy to the Provincial Civil Court =
at Patas; this Court and also the Board were abolished in 1829, a
and their powers were vested in a Commissioner at Patna acting i]
under the orders of the Board in Caloutta. It was not till 1895
that Bihar was constituted a separate Collestorate, and in 1881
the Judge-Magistrate of Gayi was given increased powers as _ ed
a Sessions Judge ; and his magisterial powers being made over
‘to the Collector, the present unit of administration, the
trate-Collector, was created. In 1845 the offices of M
and Collector were separated, to be again reunited in 1859 by the
ordéts of the Secretary of State. Finally, the district of Gaya
Wile created in 1865 out of parts of the old districts of Bihar
and Ramgarh, the subdivision of Bibir with an area of nearly
800 square miles being transferred to the Patna district ; six
years later the parganas of Japla and Belaunja, containing 650
square miles, were annexed to Lohirdagi (now Paliman) ; and
in 1875 an area of 6 square miles was transferred to Haziribigh, “Ss
In 1789 the demand of land revenue for the district of Bihar Grown 4
was Rs, 10,41,700 payable by 744 estates with 1,160 proprietors —
but the area of the district did not correspond with that of the
present district of Gaya, and of the 41 parganas which were
included in it, 16 have since been transferred to Patna, two (Japla
and Belunjé) to Palamau, and one (Amarthu) to Monghyr.. “In —
1870-71, when the district was practically the same as at prestnt, ef
the total demand of land revenue was Rs. 13,80,820, payable by Hh |
4,411 estates owned by 20,453 proprictors. Sinco that time the oe
demand has increased but little, but on the other hand, the number ~
of estates and proprietors, has grown very largely, owing to thé
extraordinary rapidity with which proprietary rights have been sub
divided under the operation of the law of succession, and of modern
such minute subdivisions to be recorded. In 1831-82 the current
demand had risen to Rs. 14,36,900, payable by 5,614 estates and
59,272 proprietors, and in 1900-01 to Re 14,80,700 due fiom
7,614 estates owned by 12,404 proprietors, The average payment
3 — year from Ks. 313 to Re, 256 and Re. 197, andthepay- x··
ieee oan eles 7 tamed —

hate?

oe ee ere ,
to Rs. 20-8, In 1004-05 the démand amounted to Rs. 14,85,300 ©
payable by 8,044 estates, of which 7,996 with a demand of
Res. 13,39,700 were permanently settled, 14 with a demand of
Re. 41,200 were temporarily settled, the remainder being held
direct by Government.

' Roughly speaking, the land-owners of Gaya pay a land reve- ·

nue of 8 annas and receive from their ryots Rs. $ an acre. Thus
the land revenue demand is 16 per cent. of the total rent demand,
or over 80 per eent. is profit. The amonnt of profit even in 1812»
attfacted Buchanan Hamilton’s attention, and we find him writ-
ing: “Although the people of this district are very cautious in’
speaking of their affairs, it is very generally admitted, evem by
themeclves, that the owners of the assessed lands have very
considerable profits; nor do they scruple to admit that it far
exceeds the estimate of the one-tenth of the revenue, which
was supposed to be the profit that they were to have by the
settlement.”
« The Government estates mentioned above extend over an
area of, 102 square miles and comprise 118 villages, They may
Be roughly divided into three groups, the escheated property of
Ekbal Bahidur, the Sarwa Mahil, and the Nawida group.

The first group passed to Government in 1879 by escheat,
in consequence of the death without heirs of Ekbal Bahadur, the
ie, sorof a Muhammadan mistress of Mod Narayan; the Raja’ of
“ © —— Politi. It is composed. of 28 villages, called the Dakhner Mahal’ _

lf

*

al in which Government has 8} annas interest; of group of six’.
a villages, of which five are near Tokiri und one is in the Bela ‘¥
a « thina ; of nine villages constituting the Ghenjan Mabal, situated
* _ Mgniles west of Makbdumpur ; and of three villages somo 5
ie @hiles wost of Jahanabad. *

pen ™ The large and extensive tract called the Sarwa Mabal .

47 villages, with on area of $1,284 acres, to the south of Gaya ;
most of them are at a distance of 11 miles from the towny but =
a fow are situated on the southern border of the district. These ”
#illages game into the possession of Government about the jyear
eee ne ite
settlement of them. *
—* third | 2* of estates —— 25 villages in the
——— tee

* te 1

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

history of fifteen only is traceable; thtee were “esohented “to
Government in 1820 on the death of the proprietor, a
of Kamgar Khan, a military adventurer of the eighteenth century,”
to whom they once belonged ; and twelve were confiscated in
1841, on account of the part taken in a daring dacoity” by
their former proprietor, a zamindar of Hazaribagh. The latter J
villages, which are known as the Dubaur Mahal, aro situated

in the extreme south of the Nawada subdivision; they are mostly

jangle and hills, but contain valuable mica mines. Produce-fents

prevail in altogether 64 of these villages, and cash-rents aro i
paid in the remainder, the total annual average income derived

from them being Rs. 1,86, 100. —

wiThie. estates were cadastrally surveyed, and a record-of* gyn

rights was prepared during the years 1593 to 1898; ahd at tho
same time the Belkhara Mahal in the north-west of the district

and the property belonging to the 9 annas share of the Tekari

Raj, then in the charge of the Court of Wards, were brought

under survey and settlement. The whole tract thus dealt with@
included 758 villages extending over an area of 582 square Rar |
miles, and the cost of the operations was 2} lakhs. ~ Ve

In 1838 a demarcation survey of the district was carried out; M3

in which the boundaries of villages and estates were defined and

& compass and chain survey was made. This was followed by the
professional village survey of 1888-44, which Governmen® >
undertook with the object of making a scientific survey of the -
Village boundaries and of preparing a map showing the geogra-
phical and topographical features of the conntry, he area
commanded by the Son Canals in the north-west of the district ~
was cadastrally surveyed in connection with the survey mado °
for irrigaffén purposes in 1876-77; and recently survey and “
settlemené operations have been extended to the Deo and
Maksudpur estates, The former estate, which covers an “aren 6f
B2 square miles, mostly im the Aurangibid subdivision, was -
settled in the years 1900—03. The latter includes 160 vi
: ting 130 square miles; about 50 square miles are *
Atri forming a fairly compact block, and another€0
square miles are to be found in and about Rajanli. In this :
estate the proceedings commenced in 1900 and were concluded — saat!
‘ ee Or ented & Wee — eo

Ae

I

sare In Gaya, as elsewhere in Bengal, a longer or shorter ‘chain’
of intermediate landholders is generally to be found. At one end
of tho chain stands the proprietor or malik, who holds the estate
from Government under the Permanent Settlement, and pays
his land-tax direct to the Government Treasury. At the other

j 4 ond is the actual cultivator, called the jotdar or kashtkar. There
* ure a number of intermediate tenures between the mali# and the

actual cultivator, the majority of which partake of a sar-i-peshgi

nature, i.¢., they have been granted by the zamindar in considera»

tion of a money advance or mortgage on loan, ¢.g., the mukarari,

which is a lease from the malik at a fixed rental, after the pay-

* ment of an installation feo called nazarina. This leabe js

. either permanent, in which case it is called tstimrart of barfar-
gandan (from generation to generation), or it is only granted for

the life of tho tlease-holder, in which case it is called Ain-

hiyati. In addition to the nasarina, the lease-holder has some-

" times to pay an advance (zar-i-peshgi) as security for the pay-
Went of the rent. Dar mukarari is an exactly similar lease
. to the above granted by the mukararidar to a third party. The
» © ‘holder ofany of the preceding permanent tenures may either
eultivate the land with his own labour, in which case the ‘hold-

ing is called nij-jot ; or with hired labour, in which case it is

called sir; or he may make over the land to another for a fixed

cK térm, which gives rise to a number of subordinate tenures.

"4 Thika or sara is the common term for a sub-lease for a definite
~ term. ‘The holder of a catda obtains the estate cither from thé!”
+ malék or mukararidar and bas to pay an advance, on getting’
re possession, and afterwards a fixed rent till the expifation of the
— term for which the lease has been taken, The thikadar or ijaradar
ae takes the place of the proprietor, who can only interfere on the
be Iéise-hélder failing to pay the fixed rent. The sub-lessee ;
Ee & lease from the thi#adar is called a Za(4anddar, and the
eldby him a Aa¢hand ; avd lower down still in the chain of

- Bubififeudation is the da rkathanddar who has —

"LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

“supervision on the part of the landlord which the tenure entails, —
This heis unable to give himself, and he prefers the certain income
from the thikddar to the fluctuating one dependent on the pecula-
tions of unchecked servants. As stated in Chapter XI, this
system of letting out estates on lease is, as a rule, objectionable in
many respeots and detrimental to the interests of both landlords
and tenants. It is, however, justified in some cases, ¢.g., where
the ¢hihidar is the bond fide representative of the ryots, and is
“amenable to public opinion in the village ; or where he is a better
and less oppressive landlord than the proprietor, and is strong
enough to obtain his lease on fair terms ; or where, on the contrary,

the proprietor is a good and strong landlord, and is able to retain»

a firm hold on his village even during the course of. the lease,
and to prevent any alterationin the rents of the ryots or any
modification of their rights in their lands. In such cases, there
are advantages in the ¢hidadari system. Its disadvantages are,
however, very numerous, and it has been abandoned jin the

Government estates, where it has becn proved that the direc

management of a large property paying d/doli rents is perfectly
feasible. Direct management necessitates the upkeep of a highly-
paid local agency, but even this is more economical than the
middleman ; and the experiment has met with fair success from the
proprietor’s point of view, while it is in every respect desirable in
the tenants’ interests.
. The peculiar tenures which exist under the bAdo/: and a
\@ystems obtaining in this district have beenalready described in

Chapter XI, and the only other tenures calling for special mention _

are’ the rent-free or /aéAiraj tenures. These were once very
numerous, and Buchanan Hamilton estimated that over one-third
of the tenures in Bihar were free of revenue Most of these
have been resumed, but some still exist of a special nature, guch as

spoltamgha grants (from al, red, and éamghd, a seal) or lands given in ;

| perpetuity asa reward for conspicuous military service, m

grants (from madad, assistance, and mésh, livelihood) orJands
to favourites and others for their personal expenses, and

—— — — —

*

206

CHAPTER XVI.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION.

Tux revinue administration of the district is in charge of the
Collector under the Commissioner of the Patna Division ; and for
general administrative purposes it is divided into four sabdivi-
sions with headquarters at Gay, Aurangabad, Jahanabad and
Nawida. The bulk of the revenue work is done at the head-
quarters station where there is a staff consisting generally of three
or four Deputy Collectors, besides some officers employed on
¥pecial branches of work, such as a special Excise Deputy Col-
lector and a Deputy Collector in charge of partition work. A
Joint-Magistrate is usually deputed to the district for the cold-
weatber months, and occasionally also an Assistant Collector
and ono or two Sub Deputy Collectors. The other subdivisions
are in charge of Deputy Collectors, designated Subdivisional
Officers, who are sometimes assisted by Sub-Deputy Collectors.
The oldest of these subdivisions is the Nawada subdivision,
which was created in 1845; the Aurangabad subdivision was
constituted in 1865; and the Jahinabal subdivision was estab-
Uebhed in 1872, when the old Sherghati subdivision was abolished.
- -‘The revenue of the district was Rs. 24,91,228 in 1880-8)
(when the income-tax had not been imposed), Rs. 24,581,768 —
in 1890-01, and Rs. 28,51,857 im 1900-01. In 1904-05 it *

given in the Statistical Appendix, from which it will be appare
“ent that the income from this source has been fairly constant,

except for the three lean years 1806—99, when it fell below

Glakhs, It has now risen to over 7 lakhs, and the revenae thus —
derived is greater than in any other Bengal district, except the
adjoining district of Patna.
Drinking in Bengal is largely indulged in by Hindi-speaking
races, aborigines and mixed tribes, and consumption also varies
inversely with the proportion of Muhammadans in the popula-
tion, Gaya is a Hindi-speaking district ; a large portion of the
inhabitants are of aboriginal descent, and the number of Musal-
mins issmall. It is not surprising therefore that the natives of
the district are on the whole bard drinkers, over six-sevenths of
the whole excise income being derived from the country spirit
prepared by distillation from the flower of the mahud-tree (Bassta
latefolia) and molasses, and from the fermented palm juieo called
éari. The consumption of the latter is indeed greater than in any
other Bengal district, and the gross receipts from this liquor and
country spirit aggregate over Rs, 3,000 for every 10,000 of the
population, as compared with the divisional average of Rs, 1,778.
The manufacture and sale of country spirit are carried on under
what is known’as the dual system, é.¢., there is a central distillery
at the heedquarters station, which serves the town of Gayh and.
a certain area round it, and outstills forthe supply of the rest of
the district ; the average consumption of outstill liquor is 98, and
of distillery liquor 325 proof gallons per mille, the incidence of
taxation per head of the population being annas 3-3 and 12-7 ——
respectively. There are 19 shops for the sale of distillery liquor —
and 175 outstills selling outstill liquor, t.¢., one retail shop for —
the sale of country spirit to every 10,456 persons; and besides —
- these, there are 2,295 shops licensed to sell tari or one shop to
every 897 persons. Imported liquors have found no favour — *

Lane GAYA.

dried flowering tops of the cultivated female hemp plant (Can-
nabis sativa), and the resinous exudation om them. Less than
Rs, 10,000 is obtained from the consumption of opium; and
though the use of bhang, i. e, the dried leaves of the hemp plant,
is more common than in any other Bengal district, the income
a derived from it is under Rs, 9,000,

Cosses, The road and public works cesses are, as usual, levied at
the maximum rate of one anna in the rupee, and the current
—— demand in 1904-05 was Rs. 5,43, 481, the greater part of which
(Rs. 5,16,614) was payable by 17,492 revenne-paying estates,
while the remainder was payable. by 307 revenue-free estates,
6,078 rent-free lands and 15 mines and railways ; the total collec
tion of both current and arrear demand was Rs. 5,60,940. The
number of tenures] assessed to cesses was 9,699, while the number
of recorded thareholders of estates and of tenures was 68,219
and 33,035 respectively. A revaluation of the entire district
was undertaken in 1901 and was completed in two batches.
The revised assessment in the first batch took effect from the
st April 1903, and that in the second batch from the lst April
1904, The operations cost Rs. 17,768, and the increase of the
cess due to this revaluation was Rs. 53,000.

The revenue from stamps ranks next in importance as a
source of income to that derived from cesses. During the ten
years ending in 1904-05 it rose from Rs. 2,66,000 (1894-95)
to Rs. 8,71,000, the increase being mainly due to the growing
demand for judicial stamps which brought in Rs. 2,89,000, as
compared with Rs, 1,97,000, ten years previously. The increase
in their sale has been ** progressive, and has presumably
been caused by the growth of litigation, as the proceeds from
the sale of court-fee stamps alone have grown by over Rs. 85,000
and now amount to Rs. 2,64,000. The revenue derived from
non-judicial stamps has stood practically still during the same
period, and has risen only from Rs, 69,009 to Rs, $2,000.

From the Statistical Appendix it will be observed that in
1901-02 the income-tax yielded altogether Rs. 77,211, paid
by 2,471 assessees, of whom 1,622 paying Rs. 18,243 had incomes _
of Rs, 500 to Rs. 1,000, At that time the minimum income —
assessable was Rs. 500, but this was raised in 1903 to Rs. 1,

and the |

“95 Ge tenenal’ od Ra TT *
1,078 nssesseee, a sum larger meager
Patna Division except Patna (Rs. 84,006). Of the

are inhabitants of Gaya town, and they pay over half the total
amount, but the incidence of taxation is only three-fifths of an
anna per head. The realizations are chiefly on account of grain
and money-lending, the renting of houses, and trade.

There are six offices for the registration of assurances under
Act III of 1877, vix., Gaya, Aurangtbad, Jahinabad, Nawida,
Sherghbati and Tekari, At tho headquarters station the Special
Sub-Registrar deals, as usual, with the documents presented there,
and assists the District Magistrate, who is er-oficio Registrar, in
supervising the proceedings of the Rural Sub-Registrars who are
in charge of the other registration offices. The marginal state-
ment shows the number

— of documents registered

- and the receipts and
expenditure at each office

Gays. in 1904. The number
eee of registrations has in«
Nawada ... creased but little since
—— 1894, when 7,726 doou⸗

— — ments were registered.
; —— nse It is in fact, far loos .
than in any other Bihar district, the reason apparently being
that the prevalences of the bhdolé system results in a paucity
of formal transactions in the transfer and leasing of holdings,

_ ‘The judicial staff entertained for the purposes of civil justice.
consists of the District Judge, two Sub-Judges and four Munsifs ; or
all of these officers are stationed at the headquarters station, = =
except one Munsif who holds his court at Aurangabad and has a 3
separate jurisdiotion. Statistics of the ciyil work will be found

imn the Statistical Appendix, nu de tiades a

the classes of cases most common in the district are suits for

of revenue-paying estates, suits involving questions *
— ‘Seer in i ot

8,863

Criminal
| Sustice.

210 ' GAYA.

Criminal justice is administered by the District and Sessions
Indge, the District Magistrate and the various Deputy and Sub-
Deputy Magistrates at the headquarters and subdivisional
stations. The sanctioned staff at Gaya consists, in addition to
the District Magistrate, of four Deputy Magistrates of the first
lass and one Deputy Magistrate of the second or third class.
Besides these officers, an Assistant Magistrate and a Sub-Deputy
Magistrate exercising second or third class powers are sometimes
posted to the headquarters station and a special Magistrate is
authorized, under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Code, to
try cases connected with breaches of the Irrigation laws. The Sub-
divisional Officers at Aurangabad, Jahanabad and Nawada are
almost invariably officers vested with first-class powers, and they
are sometimes assisted by Sub-Deputy Magistrates of the second
class. Thore are also Benches of Honorary Magistrates at Gaya
(27 members), Aurangabad (6 members), Daidnagar (5 mem-
bers), Jahanabad (9 members), Nawida (7 members) und Tekari
(6 members), all of which exercise second-class powers, except
those at Jahinibid and Tekari, which have third-class powers only.
In all there are 60 Honorary Magistrates, of whom six are
authorized to sit singly. Statistics showing the work of the
criminal courts will be found in the Statistical Appendix.

Gaya was formerly notorious for the prevalence of crime,
specially inthe southern portion included in Ramgarh. Here
we aro told,* the destruction of many old forts had to be “ recom-

* mended by the Magistrate at an early period of the British

domination, as they afforded protection to the refractory zamin-
dars and hordes of irregular banditti. Theft is common through-
out Ramgarh, but murder more prevalent among a particular
class, which are the slaves possessed by persons inhabiting the
mountainous and inaccessible interior, and of savage and ferocious
habits. When petty disputes occur, these slaves are com:
pelled by their masters to perpetuate any enormity, and are more
especially employed for the purposes of assassination. Any
hesitation or repuguance on the part of the slave is attended
with immediate death, which is equally his fate should he fail,
in the attempt, On the other hand, if he sneoeed, he is songht
So Op a — —

The usual police have hitherto been unable to seize the cowardly
instigator, and if recourse be had to a military foree, he retires:
into the jungle. On the occurrence of suvh am event, the whole
country is thrown into confusion and rebellion, during which
many unoffending persons lose their lives ; and the troops, after
many ineffectual efforts to execute the Magistrate’s orders, return
to their stations, worn out with fatigue, and their numbers
thinned by the pestilential atmosphere of the jungles.”

Dacoities were extremely common, the gangs of daevits
being somotimee led by zamindirs ; highway robberies were even
more frequent, and the generally unruly state of this tract
finally made it neccssary to appoint a special Joint-Magistrate
at Sherghati in order to cope more effectually with the elements
of disorder. The north of the district was more settled, but
even here there was little real security of person and property.
In 1789 a gang of 200 robbers,* armed with swords, spears and
bows, were able to make a raid into the town of Gaya itself;
and having stationed guards to prevent the communication of
intelligence to the European Magistrate, they surrounded and
plundered the houses of two bankers, and after murdering?
upwards of 20 persons made off with their booty. Even at »
later period, it is stated : +—‘‘ The number of crimes originating

“in the Bahar district, of which Gaya is the capital, may in great

measure be attributed to the vast crowd of pious and superstitious
pilgrims. The wealth these persons possess generally consists
of money, jewels and cther articles, which exeite the cupidity of
the unprincipled, while the defenecless position of the greater
number of these stragglers exhibits it to them as a prey of easy
acquisition.”

This state of affairs has now passed away; and thongh
dacoities are still sometimes committed, the most general offences
are ordinary housebreaking and cattle theft, and riots caused by
disputes about irrigation. Here, as elsewhere i in Bihar, house-
breaking is one of the commonest and cusiest forms of crime.
The soft mud walls of the houses, the weary sleep of the inmates, ze
the negligence (or often the acquiescence) of the chawkidave
combine with the adroitness of the burglar to render his trade *
_ © Mewoir of the Ghazeepoor District, by pr 9
at or ot — by Walter —* — *

2

ro

“in oS

-énay and hig arrest a rare occurrence. Farther, the propetty

stolen genefillly consists of brass utensils, trumpery ornaments,
clothing, cash, or grain; and when the same pattern prevails
throughout the district, the identification of the property is as
difficult as the concealment of it is easy. Cattle-lifting is
another common form of crime, practised chiefly by Goalis, and
this district has long been notorious for its prevalence ; it is more
frequent {han would appear from the statistics of convictions,
both because of the difficulty of tracing the offenders, who
remove the stolen cattle to great distances, and also because it is
usual for the thieves to restore them for a consideration. Cattle-
theft is in fact recognized by the people as part of an organized
system of levying blackmail (called in this case panha) ; they
frequently know to whom to apply, and hence a considerable
portion of the cases which actually oeour are pot reported. Dis-
putes about land and irrigation are a fruitful source of offences
against the publie tranquillity ; and violent breaches of the peace
are common when the crops are on the ground or the reservoirs
aro full of water, Two known cases of sofi occurred in the
‘yeare 1901 and 1903 in the Aurangabad subdivision.

There are three classes in Gaya district who may be consid-
ered habitual criminals, viz., Gotlas, Dosidhs, and aboriginal

* tribes, such as the Bhuiyas, Rajwirs and Musahars. Cattle-

lifting and grain-thefts are the special crimes of the first class;
lurking lhouse-trespass and burglary of the second; and thefts
of the third, The Goalas are continually engaged in that most
exasperating form of theft which consists of petty thefts of
croys from granaries and fields, and they seldom lose an oppor-
tunity of grazing their cattle on a neighbour’s crops. They are
even more notorions for cattle-lifting, which they practise with
equal boldness and success, The Dosadhs are a more contemp-
tible class than the Goalas. With the same predilection for
crime, they want the daring, the insolence and the physique
which make the Goala such a dangerous ruffian. Their crimes,

_ therefore, are of a meaner deceription, such as petty thefteand =

skulking burglary. The low aboriginal tribes have alro ‘an evil’
“as criminals, but in mame sti tins ee |

‘tobberies and dacoities. Here, hoe a ce
merely the employés of the bolder spirits who organize these
ee ot wae woes tay cay Oe Oe oe
share of the plunder.

The Babhan clues supply the leading sphlls te ¢ Gil
robbery, riot or any other mischief. When the crops are on the
ground, or the reservoirs full of water, the Babhan’s opportunity
comes, and violent breaches of the peace occur in twenty villages
atonce. Besides this taste for rioting, they are remarkable for.
their litigiousness, and are ever ready to contest to the last
halfpenny a neighbour’s claim, or seize upon a poorer man’s
right. Their crookedness of mind has passed into a proverb,
“ Babhan bahut sidhi ho, to hasnd ke aisa,” tc, “The
straightest Babhan is as crooked as a sickle.”

For police purposes, the district of Gaya is divided into 14

police circles (thanas) :—viz., (1) Gaya Town or Kotwili,

(2) Gaya Mofussil, (3) Atri, (4) Tekari, (5) Barachatti and
(6) Sherghati in the headquarters subdivision; (7) Nawida,
(8) Rajauli and (9) Pakribarawin in the Nawida subdivision ;

(10) Jahanabad, and (1)) Arwal in the Jabinabad subdivision ;

(12) Daddnagar, (13) Nabinagar, and (14) Aurangabad in the
Aurangabad subdivision. Subordinate to the thinas are 22 out-
posts and beat-bouses, of which a list will be found in the
Statistical Appendix; and there are therefore 36 centres in all
for the investigation of crime. The force engaged in the pre-
vention and detection of crime consisted in 1904 of the Distriot
Superintendent of Police, an Assistant District Superintendent
of Police, 6 Inspectors, 49 Sub-Inspectors, 56 head-constables
and 659 constables ; and the rural foree for the watch and ward
of villages in the interior bad a strength of 304 dafadare and
4,119 chaukidars. The cost of the regular force was nearly
Rs. 1,45,000, and there was one policeman to every 9} square
miles and to every 4,153 persons, as compared with the average

of 9$ square miles and 5,386 persons for the whole of Bihar.

Ta pddikion t0'the reral aad segular police, there is a small force

ot town lice employed in the monisglites unde heads

ae Dassen tree —— the headquarters station 34
— pees ee entree — — ad

er ie nes ig Pies : Pius — — fi

Portce,

Nawéda, there isa District Jail at Gaya. Statistics will be found
in the Statistical Appendix: The subsidiary jails at Aurangabad,
Jahinabad and Nawida are merely lock-ups, in which prisoners
sentenced to imprisonment for a fortnight or less are confined ;
in 1904 the daily average of prisoners was only 13, 7 and 9
respectively. In the Gaya Jail, on the average, 422 prisoners
were confined daily in 1904, and the death-rate was extraordi-
narily low, being only 2°5 per mille of its average strength,
a smaller percentage than in any other jail in the Provinee.
Accommodation is provided for 542 prisoners; there are cells for
16 male convicts and 5 Europeans; the hospital holds 83
patients; and there are barracks with separate sleeping accom-
modation for 14 juvenile convicts, and without separate sleeping
accommodation for 6 civil prisoners, 22 under trial prisoners,
15 female convicts and 431 male convicts. In the subsidiary
jails the convicts are employed in oil-pressing, wheat-grinding
and the manufacture of aãbe grass string. The industries carried
on in the district jail are oil-pressing, breaking of stone for road
metal, weaving of carpets and newdr, and the manufacture of
bamboo-baskets, sade grass string and mate, jute twine, cotton
string and money-bags for the Government treasuries.

baat faa — i . mi " . ute #

? pony: oe Sey

"|
Ci hig et pe te . ea’ —— ete ee

Raphi ERE eee eee *

Ladner

CHAPTER XVII.

— ——
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

Ovtstps municipal areas, local affairs are managed by the
District Board which hae jurisdiction over the whole district,
and by the Local Boards which have been constituted for each
of the outlying subdivisions, The District Board is responsible
for the maintenance of roads, bridges and roadside rest-houses,
and has the general superintendence of primary and middle
schools. It is also entrusted with the management of pounds
and public ferries, the control over dispensaries, the provision
of a proper water-supply and village sanitation. To the Local
Boards, which work in subordination to it, have been delegated
the administration of small sums allotted for the construction
and repair of village roads and the discharge of certain functions
which will be mentioned later.

The District Board was established in the year 1887, and Drernror
consists of 21 members. The District Magistrate is an ex officio
member of the Board and is invariably its Chairman ; there are 4
other ex officio members, 7 members are nominated by Govern-
ment, and 9 are elected. The Statistical Appendix shows, for the
10 years 1892-93 to 1901-02, the principal souroes from which this
body derives its income, and the objeots on which it is spent ; and
it will suffice here to’say that its average annual income during this a
period was Rs. 2,84,000, of which Rs, 2,07,000 were derived from —
Provincial rates, and the average expenditure was Rs. 2,87,000. an
of which nearly two lakhs were spent on civil works, Re, 27,000
on education, and Rs. 20,000 on medical relief. In 1904-05
the Board had an opening balance of Rs. 1,16,14],and its income =
was Re. 3,34,600, or annas 3-2 per head of the population ; a =

the expenditure ia the same year was Rs. 2,78,500. Here, ag =
; —— the Provincial rates form the chief source of —

&

ee eal It

TN ES — —
ISR cy ABE ns a

216 Sect pA —

bringing in over 2} lakhs of rupees. The incidence of taxation
is annas 2-1 per head of the population, a figure higher than in
any other district of the Patna Division, except Patna (annas 2-5)
and Shahabid (annas 8-6).

By far the largest portion of the income of the District Board
is spent on civil works, i.e, the extension and maintenance of
communications, the upkeep of staging bungalows, the construc-
tion of buildings and the provision of a proper water-supply.
Altogether Rs. 1,72,000 were expended on these works in 1904-05,
over two-thirds of this sum being spent on the construction,
improvemént, and repairs of roads. The Board maintains
altogether 168 miles of metalled and 715gmiles of unmetalled
roads, besides 62% miles of village roads, the cost per mile being
Rs, 571, Rs. 31 and Rs. 10-4 respectively. The immediate
administration of the roads is vested in the District Engineer,
who is also responsible for the management and repair of 28
inspection houses and 2 dik bungalows kept up by the Board.
That body also controls 40 ferries and 73 pounds ; the latter are
generally leased out, and the average income derived from them
was Rs. 10,700 during the 16 years ending in 1903-04,

After civil works, education constitutes the heaviest charge
upon the District Board, the amount expended upon it being
over Rs, 45,000 in 1904-05. It maintains 5 middle schools, and
aids six others, besides 43 upper primary and 684 lower primary
schools, and, for the supervision of education, it employs an
inspecting staff of 5 Sab-Inspectors and 14 Inspecting Pandits,
Besides this, it awards a scholarship tenable at the Bihir School
of Engineering, and pays the stipend of a student at the Bengal
Veterinary College at Belgichia. For the relief of sickness,
it maintains two dispensaries and aids ten others, and it hag
recently taken in hand the construction of dispensary buildings at
Rafiganj and Nabinagar. The proportion of its available income,
i.c. of the income derived from sources other thin road cess, which ©
is spent on hospitals and dispensaries is particularly high ; and
in, the five years 1898-99 to. 1902-03 the percentage (18°11)

thus expended was higher than in any other Bengal district, except

Backergunge (20°57) and Patna (18:12). The sanitary work

diseases, sanitary arrangements at fairs and melds, the construc:
ticn, repair and improvement of wells, and experiments in village
sanitation, such as the clearance of jungle, the excavation of
roadside drains, and the filling up of hollows containing stagnant
Water. Altogether 9°3 per cent. of its ordinary income was bs
expended on medical relief and sanitation in 1904-05. :
In subordination to the District Board are the Local Boards —
of Nawada, Jahanabad and Aurangabad, the jurisdiction of each
corresponding with that of the subdivisional charge of the same
name. There was formerly a Local Board for the headquarters
subdivision, buy as it did no useful work, it was abolished a fow
years ago. The sysjem of election which obtains in most of the
districts in Bengal has not been introduced, and the members are
appointed by Government, the Subdivisional Magistrates holding
the office of Chairman. These bodies were established at the same
time as the District Board, and receive annual allotments from its
funds ; the functions with which they are entrusted being the
maintenance of village roads, the supervision of some local dispen-
saries, the control of a certain namber of pounds, and certain
other minor works such as village sanitation and the upkeep
of wells.
There are three municipalities ia this district, viz., Gaya, Mowrorrau
Tekariand Daadnagar. The number of rate-payers is 15,767 out oF
of a total population of 87,469, the ratio being 18 per cent. as
compared with the Divisional average of 17'7 percent. Taxation
takes the form in the two municipalities first named of a rate on
holdings, and in Datdnagar of a tax on persons residing in
municipal areas according to their c'reumstanees and property ;
besides this, there is a latrine-tax in Gaya. The incidence of taxa-
tion varies between Re, 1-2-10 in Gaya and 5 annas at Datdnagar,
the former being, next to Muzaffarpur, the most beavily-taxed and
the latter the most lightly-taxed municipality in the Division, the
average taxation in which is 12 annas 7 pics per head. Statistics —
of the annual income and expenditure of each municipalityduring =
the 10 years 1892-93 to 1901-02 will be found in the Statistical

Appendix.

Phe Gays Municipality, Which was constituted in 1865, is
————
*

—
rete Sa

The area within municipal limits is 8 square miles, and is divided _
into 10 wards; the number of rate-payers is 13,285 or 186
per cent. of the population. The average annual income for the
decade ending in 1901-02 was Rs. 87,800, and the expendi-
ture Rs. 82,600, In 1904-05, they were Rs. 1,16,388 and
Rs. 1,01,169, respectively, the incidence of taxation per head of
the population being Re. 1-2-10. The main heads of income
are atax on holdings at 74 per cent. of their annual value, which
yielded Rs. 50,200 in 1904-05, a conservancy rate (Rs. 23,500),
and a tax on animals and vehicles (Rs. 8,850). The principal
items of expenditure are conservancy, medical relief and public
works, which accounted, respectively, for.46°9, 15:1 and 108
percent. of the expenditure,

The two great needs of the municipality are an effective
rystem of drainage and a filtered water-supply, but at present
its finances are insufficient to carry out such expensive schemes.
The present drainage system comprises 18 miles of masonry,
cement or brick drains, and 12 miles of other drains, nearly all the
outlets leading into the Phalgu river ; the natural drainage of
the town is principally from south {o north, but in a few cases
the fall is from east to west. Inthree wards the night-soil is
removed to a trenching-ground near the Ramsila Hill in iron
trucks by a steam-tramway, which was procured from England
at a cost of Rs, 48,450, and which costs over Re, 12,000 a year to
maintain. The old town of Gaya has a complete underground
sewerage system linked up with the houses along the course of the
drains. It is plentifully supplied with man-holes, and as this
part of the town is on high ground, the gradients are good. The

_ drains are free from objection during the rains, when the sewers

are thoroughly flashed but, during the dry months of the year,
the contents stagnate a great deal and give rise to offensive
odours. The new part of the town has a system of surface —

drainage only, and many of the drains have an inadequate fall)
_ and are badly designed ; some of them in the crowded portions
ee cess-pools

17-9 per cent. of the population. In 1904-05, the total income

—— Fund on the — of new drains

‘improvement of existing ones, the town has been surveyed
levels have beon taken for an improved drainage scheme, ‘The
resources of the municipality have, however, been severally
strained by repeated visitations of plague, and the want of funds
at present prevonts the execution of this most necessary improve-
ment.

The same difficulty stands in the way of a pure —
The presont sources of supply are the river Phalgu and the
wells scattered about the town, but the Phalgu dries up in the
hot weather, and at the same time the wells also contain insufli-
cient water for the requirements of the large number of inhabi ·
tants. To remedy this state of affairs, a scheme has been pro-
posed for pumping water from the Phalgu to filtering tariks on
a hill in the old town and thence distributing it. Endeavours
were made to raise a sufficient sum from donations toenable the
municipality to carry out the scheme with the additional aid we
of a loan; but adequate support was not fortheoming and the .
scheme is in abeyance. In other respects, the requirements of

. the citizens are well provided for, and there is a very extensive ie
network of roads, streets and lanes, the metalled roads alone mn
having a total length of 43 miles. 4

The Tekari Mun‘cipality was constituted in 1885, ad is Tokir,
administered by a Municipal Board of 12 Commissioners,of =

whom 3 are ez officio members and 9 are nominated. The area
within municipal limits is a little over a square mile, and is —
divided into 9 wards. There are in all 1,149 tax-payers, or

was Rs. 7,530, of which Rs. 5,660 were realized from the tax
on houses and lands, the incidence of taxation being annas 15-9
per head. The expenditure was Res. 6,385, of which more than
a third was spent on conservancy. The town contains —